XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Führer Ex" is certainly as baity as it gets and I guess they had success with that as this fairly mediocre movie is a lot more known than it really should be. Director here is Winfried Bonengel and he also adapted Ingo Hasselbach's autobiographic work for the screen. Still I think there is a reason why nobody from the cast really (with one exception, I come to that later) is in famous fames these days anymore and same also goes for Bonengel who went on to direct terrible television series after this project and none of the works he made before or after this one comes close to this one in terms of popularity.The movie runs for 100 minutes and tells us about the lives of 2 GDR citizens who are sick of their country and try to flee. However, instead of becoming respectable FRG citizens, they switch to the other side and end up on the far right. Most of the movie is about depicting what happens when they were in jail. Easily the best thing about this film is Dieter Laser, he is the one I was referring to previously as he is still well-known today. He plays a prison inmate who killed his wife and talks all about self-defense, but it becomes so obvious that this is not what happened. That scene, as brutal as it was, was also pretty hilarious because of Laser's insane line delivery. Sadly, the rest of the film is almost in its entirety forgettable and there are very few memorable moments. Even the ending does not feel authentic, but just dramatic for the sake of it. I do not recommend this film.

Jay Harris This is a well acted BUT not convincing tale of two late teen lads in East Berlin in 1986,there eventual arrest for trying to escape to the west,there time in prison and how they change, & the eventual tragic ending after the wall comes down in 1989.This should have been a much better movie, but sorry to say it is not.I for one have seen many (maybe too many) prison films with troubled youths in them. A few years back we had American HISTORY X which was far superior on every count. HBO had a 5 year program called OZ, where we had nearly the same type of story & people. It too was far superior. Even going much further back there haver been similar type storiesAnother problem I had was the editing,some changes in scenes were not very clear,maybe it was because we did not know who the various people were.The subtitles are clear & easy to read,ratings: **1/2 (out of 4) 69 points (out of 100) IMDb 6 (out of 10)

towohlfahrt Fuehrer Ex is a film about East German Teens living in East Berlin in 1986. The Story revolves around 2 Characters, Heiko, Who looks up to his best friend Tommy, and Tommy who is obsessed with escaping East Berlin to the west. Tommy got himself arrested, because of Anti-Communist Behavior. In Prison Tommy got introduced to Neo-Nazism, and was released as a radical who wanted to convince Heiko of his new found religion. Heiko had no interest, but still remained a friend to Tommy, even after Tommy slept with his girlfriend. Tommy Convinced Heiko to escape to the west. But they got busted and send to prison. In prison Tommy Joined the Skin head Gang, while Heiko was being raped and abused by fellow inmates. Tommy still tried to protect Heiko, even though Heiko did not join the skinhead gang. One day heiko decided that he had enough of being raped, so he stabbed one of his cell mates, and ended up in solitary confinement. One of the prison supervisors blackmailed Tommy, by either informing the state of the neo-Nazi movement, or his friend heiko will be left in solitary confinement to rot. Tommy agreed with the Stasi and Heiko Joined the Neo-Nazi Group. Tommy then escaped Prison and made it to the east, while Heiko was left behind. Since Heikos protection was now gone, he became really involved with the Neo Nazis. Years pass and the wall fell in 1989. Tommy returned to East Berlin to find Heiko, but he as become a leader in the Neo-Nazi Community, in the meantime it seams that Tommy curved his neo-Nazi views. Heikos superiors had a copy of Tommy's Stasi File and discovered that Tommy was working for the state as an informant; they marked Tommy as a traitor and ordered heiko to kill Tommy. When heiko confronted Tommy, Tommy told heiko that he went over the top, and told him to forget the Nazis and run off to Australia with him. Then Tommy was killed by the neo-Nazi gang and the film ended with Heiko walking through the streets, just like Mark did at the end of Trainspotting.The Film was good in a sense of its graphic depiction of East German life, and prison violence. The ending was kind of week, and the story took a long time to get to its point. it has its similarities with History EX, but really it was a different story.

up_and_out My title above really says it all.The film is as outstanding as is "American History X." The young lead is also. As was Edward Norton of course. The theme is very similar, and just as well developed... Characters include the older man with Neo-Nazi ideas leading young people with little or no father figures stray, the protected or protective brother figure, the strong mother figure, the jail scenes with all the violence to be expected. The list of parallels is endless.Yes, you may have seen it all before. But this flick is worthwhile. Face it - the topic perhaps does belong more to Berlin (need I say it -the birth place of Neo-nazism) than to Los Angeles. And the Germans have finally made a film about a culture they originated, which is outstanding in many ways.The inside look at the old GDR (East Germany) is very informative, and well told to non-Germans. Germans may think otherwise of this recurring "East German" theme, a staple plot setting in German cinema for the last 12 years with no end in sight. But even if that is old to you, there is so much to appreciate in the movie that it will not disappoint. Certainly, the lead performance by the Berlin teenager (age at the time of filming anyway) is chilling, and impactful. We watch, accompany and feel his transformation intimately. In my last comparison with "American History X," I assure you the lead in this movie is every bit as dense and intense as Edward Norton was.Too bad it has not been shown (yet, perhaps) to more international audiences. I saw it in late October 2002 at the São Paulo Film Festival. I do definitely recommend it (my rating 10/10). See this one on the big screen when it comes your way.