''Gundermann'' is a 2018

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

based on the life of

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

singer-songwriter Gerhard Gundermann. Directed by

Andreas Dresen Andreas Dresen (born 16 August 1963) is a German film director. His directing credits include ''Wolke Neun, Cloud 9'', ''Summer in Berlin (film), Summer in Berlin'', ''Grill Point'' and ''Night Shapes''. His film ''Stopped on Track'' premiered at ...

and written by Leila Stiehler, the film premiered on 23 August 2018 and won six awards at the subsequent

German Film Awards The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important ...

2019, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor.

Plot

Beginning in 1992 with the unmasking of Gundermann as a former

unofficial collaborator An unofficial collaborator or IM (; both from German ''inoffizieller Mitarbeiter''), or euphemistically informal collaborator (''informeller Mitarbeiter''), was an informant in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) who delivered privat ...

of the East German security service

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

, the film shows selected episodes from the life of singer-songwriter and

excavator Excavators are heavy equipment (construction), heavy construction equipment primarily consisting of a backhoe, boom, dipper (or stick), Bucket (machine part), bucket, and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The modern excavator's ...

operator Gerhard Gundermann. Cutbacks show how he involved himself in the politics of the

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

and met his wife Conny. Making him responsible for his shortcoming, Gundermann's father breaks ties with him. Gundermann's life and environment are marked by contradictions. He finds inspiration for his music while operating the

bucket-wheel excavator A bucket-wheel excavator (BWE) is a large heavy equipment machine used in surface mining. Their primary function is that of a continuous digging machine in large-scale open-pit mining operations, removing thousands of tons of overburden a day. Wh ...

that produces coal. However, his music is about the beauty of nature that his very work destroys. Even though he is a committed communist, his directness and willfulness clash with the prevalent

conformism Conformity or conformism is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to social group, group norms, politics or being like-minded. Social norm, Norms are implicit, specific rules, guidance shared by a group of individuals, that guide t ...

and lead to his exclusion from the

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Mar ...

. He takes up the work as an

in the hopes of improving working conditions and health and safety protection for his fellow workers. Only after the collapse of the GDR does he realize how much harm he could have caused. At the same time, he learns he too was spied on by friends and acquaintances for the Stasi, although his Stai file has disappeared from the

Stasi Records Agency The Stasi Records Agency () was the organisation that administered the archives of Ministry of State Security (Stasi) of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany). It was a government agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. It wa ...

. In an interview, he refuses to apologize in the usual formulaic way that was common for former IMs at the time. He reasons that having read his reports to the Stasi, sometimes referred to as a "perpetrator file" (German: ''Täterakte''), he first and foremost couldn't forgive himself. Instead, he personally reaches out to several of his colleagues and band members, confessing to having been an IM in the past. As Gundermann becomes a father and his wife expects him to spend less time on tour and on his music, he promises improvement. In the end, he reconciles with his band members and the audience after his genuine confession about his ties to the Stasi.

Cast

Production

In 2006, Laila Stieler began to work on the screenplay. Conny Gundermann, the widow of Gundermann, was involved in the development of the script. Locations included the Nochten

open-pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially ...

coal mine and its surface installations in Mühlrose in the

Lusatia Lusatia (; ; ; ; ; ), otherwise known as Sorbia, is a region in Central Europe, formerly entirely in Germany and today territorially split between Germany and modern-day Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the eas ...

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

mining region, just under 20 km from Gundermann's former workplace. Additionally, some scenes were shot in

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...

-Hassel.

Music

The 13 soundtracks and 2 bonus tracks were released by German music publisher Buschfunk under the title ''Gundermann – the Soundtrack ''(German: ''Gundermann - Die Musik zum Film''). Jens Quandt produced the soundtracks which feature vocals from leading actor Alexander Scheer. The instrumentals were performed by Gunnar Ennen (guitar, keyboard), Jens Fricke (guitar), Frenzy Suhr (bass), Sebastian Deufel (drums, grand piano) and Andreas Wieczorek (saxophone).

References

External links

* {{German Film Award for Best Film 2018 films German biographical drama films German musical films Films set in East Germany 2010s German films Films directed by Andreas Dresen