Christiane F. (1981)

Don't Let Your Know it All Kids go "SLIPPING INTO DARKNESS"

A cautionary tale for today's teen who gets bored by everything after 2 minutes. You know what they say about the idle mind.

I saw this movie as a teen. Some older high school kids thought it had some shock value so they invited us with the bait of David Bowie in the movie and soundtrack. The in your face depravity created a boundary for me that my grandmother's prayers and words of wisdom never could. I still went off full throttle off into the world a young adult, full of music, art, travel, joie de vivre, but this movie stayed as a dark warning in the back of my mind.

I'm in agreement with one reviewer who stated that a major message in this movie is that the adults were not keeping an eye on their kids. Everyone was caught up in their own "distractions"; very much like today's warped world of iPods, cell phones, internet, reality TV, etc. This makes adults (and especially children's) minds, bodies and souls easy picking's for predators of all forms and levels of finesse.

There's a lot to be said for "quiet time" with someone close, or pet. The happiness of just being alone somewhere appreciating nature in all it's glory. A movie like Chritiane F will make you be satisfied with the simple things in life.

Those of us who have survived our own youth can sit back from a movie like this and say to ourselves: "There, but for the grace of God...." July 12, 2008

Christiane F.

The true story of a teenage girl living on the edge. Very eye opening.
Some parts are very graphic. All in all a very good movie. May 9, 2008

effective story

Christiane F is an effective Story you will enjoy with that true story, its old film but the story is still happen now also in any where in that world. April 12, 2008

Not what I was expecting

This movie throw me for a loop. I really wasn't looking for a movie to dive so deep into the valley of the shadow death. But, this movie gives a frightening look into adolescent drug use...... October 30, 2007

5 stars for the movie itself. 1 star for the DVD release.

The good: the movie itself. Dark, depressing, gripping and well-done movie about teenage heroin addicts in late-'70s Berlin, based on the autobiography of the real-life Christiane F. Amazing performances from a cast that, believe it or not, were mostly non-actors, and a truly magnificent job of showing the horrors of addiction. Not to mention it's a priceless time capsule and period piece of Berlin during that time.

The bad: the DVD release, at least the Region 1 American version. A previous reviewer was on the mark in calling this "bare-bones." No director commentary, no special features, no updates on where the cast and/or the real-life people this film is based on are now, and not even subtitles. There is literally NOTHING on this DVD except for the original movie itself in German and an option to watch it in a truly awful English-language dub. If the dubbed English dialogue was the actual dialogue of a film, that film would rank up there with "From Justin to Kelly" or Vanilla Ice's "Cool as Ice" as one of the most moronic films of all time.

5 stars for the movie, 1 star for the DVD, for an average of 3 stars total. January 30, 2007

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