Germany Year Zero (1948) on Netflix
In Allied-occupied Berlin, twelve-year-old Edmund Köhler hunts food and work for his sick father and siblings. His former teacher, Herr Henning, gives him a Hitler recording to sell to soldiers.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.8/1015,532 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes96%
Trailer
Plot summary
The Köhlers live in a bombed-out Berlin apartment building, sharing the Rademachers' home by order of the housing authority, to Mr. Rademacher's irritation. Edmund, the youngest at twelve, looks for food and any work in the ruined streets. His father is too ill to get out of bed, his sister Eva goes out with Allied soldiers and brings home cigarettes, and his brother Karl-Heinz will not register with the police, afraid of punishment for his service in the Wehrmacht. Trying to sell Mr. Rademacher's scale on the black market, Edmund meets Herr Henning, his former schoolteacher, who still believes in Nazi ideas. Henning hands him a Hitler recording to sell to the occupying troops and sends him along with Jo and Christl.
Cast
- Heidi Blänkneras Frau Rademaker (uncredited)
- Barbara Hintzas Thilde (uncredited)
- Alexandra Manysas Eva's Friend (uncredited)
- Christl Merkeras Christl (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Germany Year Zero (1948)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Roberto Rossellini wanted a young boy who physically resembled his recently deceased son; after auditioning several boys he spotted eleven-year-old circus acrobat Edmund Meschke, combed his hair to look like his son and cast him as the lead.
- The German actors waited in Rome until November for the sets to be built, and by then the previously malnourished men had gained so much weight that they were put on crash diets to keep continuity; afterwards most refused to return to Berlin and a few ran off to the Italian countryside.
- Shooting began with no formal script, with Rossellini telling the actors to improvise their dialogue; he directed the film in French and depended on Max Colpet to translate for him throughout the shoot.
- In the middle of shooting, Rossellini went to Rome for a week to spend time with his then mistress Anna Magnani, and Carlo Lizzani directed some scenes in his absence.
- Rossellini cast non-professionals he met on the street: he found Ernst Pittschau on the front steps of a retirement home, a silent film actor forty years earlier, and Ingetraud Hinze, a former ballet dancer, standing in a food line.
