Berlin Alexanderplatz

Amazing job of bringing this 1920s story into 2020 to depict modern conflicts which, after all, are not so different from 100 years ago. Very well directed and beautifully shot to portray underground life and its unusual relationships. Maybe a nuance too long but great to watch. Impressingly well played by the Reinhold character.

Migration. Refugees. Asylum seekers. Familiar terms. Eventually also a number of films about the lives of these people who choose to flee in the hope of finding a better life.

This ambitious, long German film is thus an important contribution in shedding light on the lives of some of these people. A film with a message, which in turn can give us viewers new insight.

However, I must write that this film turned out to be completely different from what I had thought beforehand. It starts with an escape. In the first part, it shows the incredible vulnerability many of these people experience. Not a passport. Not rights. Vulnerable to being exploited, which this main character also experiences to a great extent.

Later in the film, a shift occurs. The main character survives by getting involved in criminal activities and with some scary criminals who have major consequences for him. The film then turns into a kind of crime/action film.

This movie is good. It could have been somewhat shorter, but is still worth watching. Welket Bungué as the protagonist Francis plays convincingly. German shooting star Albrecht Schuch is uncannily good as the psychopathic and brutal Reinhold. The film is peppered with many exciting personalities, also with skilled actors who give convincing life to these characters.

A minus from me at the end: there is a narrator's voice that we can regularly hear in the film to describe Francis' thoughts and actions. Totally unnecessary. The film is so clear and insightful, that we could have let go of this Minnie Mouse voice that keeps popping up.

This movie was hard to watch but gave me something to think about. I like this kind of movies who made a deep impression on me. I could feel the pain of the main character played brilliantly by Welket Bungue.

Berlin Alexanderplatz is beautifully directed and it doesn't make you feel distracted from the story considering its 3 hour length. On the other hand this film doesn't necessarily offer anything new or surprising to the viewer so I'd suggest keeping the expectations not so high.

The story follows the rise and fall of Francis (Welket Bungué), a refugee who tries to be a good man while earning a living in a wealthy country suppressing the options to do so. He is soon approached by a drug dealer (Albrecht Schuch) offering what seems to be a way out of his misery. Thus, the tragedy unfolds. Burhan Qurbani's handwriting as a director has significantly improved over the course of his now three feature-length films. And now he has delivered a masterpiece. The film manages to combine elements of hyper-realism with poetic moments, strengthening each other's impact. The music is sometimes subtle, sometimes loud, and always on point. The actors' delivery is gripping and powerful. The story itself is an adaptation of Döblin's masterpiece novel of the same name. It is fittingly transferred into current day Berlin, and - while staying true to the novel's intent - it is told in a far more concise manner to suit its format. I actually hate movies longer than 100 minutes, but due to its separation into 5 chapters Qurbani somehow managed to not annoy or bore me for a second.