Christiane F. – We Children from Bahnhof Zoo

Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo
Directed by	Uli Edel
Produced by	Bernd Eichinger Hans H. Kaden Hans Weth
Written by	Herman Weigel Kai Hermann Horst Rieck
Starring	Natja Brunckhorst Thomas Haustein
Music by	Jürgen Knieper David Bowie
Cinematography	Jürgen Jürges Justus Pankau
Release date(s)	1981
Running time	138 minutes
Country	West Germany
Language	German
Budget	$2.7 million

Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo is a 1981 film that portrays the drug scene in West Berlin in the 1970s, based on the non-fiction book of the same name written following tape recordings of Christiane F.

Synopsis

12-year-old Christiane Felscherinow lives with her mother and little sister in a small apartment in a typical multi-storey concrete apartment building in a dull neighbourhood in the outskirts of West Berlin. She's bored and lacks things to do and is sick and tired of living there. She hears of Sound, a new disco in the city center, labelled as the most modern discothèque in Europe. Although she's legally too young to go there, she dresses up in high heels, wears makeup, and asks a friend from school, who hangs out there regularly, to take her, too. At the disco, she meets Detlef, who is a little older and is in a clique where everybody experiments with various drugs. At first she takes pills and LSD, but gradually becomes drawn deeper into the drugs, eventually ending up as a heroin-addict and prostitute. Christiane falls in love with Detlef, and begins using heroin on a regular basis, soon becoming a junkie like the rest of the group.

Cast and roles

• Natja Brunckhorst – Christiane F.
• Thomas Haustein – Detlef
• Jens Kuphal – Axel
• Rainer Wölk – Leiche
• Jan Georg Effler – Bernd
• Christiane Reichelt – Babsi
• Daniela Jaeger – Kessi
• Kerstin Richter – Stella
• David Bowie – Himself

Reception

As the movie was first shown theaters in Germany, the movie and the book acquired cult status and pushed ahead junkie fashion allowing Christiane to earn a semi status of fame for a short period.

However the real and most important effect it had on popular culture, starting from Berlin and later spreading to Western Europe, was a growing concern towards heroin consumption.

Soundtrack

Main article: Christiane F. (album)

All songs written by David Bowie except Heroes/Helden written by Bowie/Eno/Maas, Boys Keep Swinging and Look Back In Anger written by Bowie/Eno. According to the book, the real Christiane F. had had her first experience with heroin at a David Bowie concert some years earlier; this is told in the film with David Bowie starring as himself. The concert scene was filmed in October 1980 at New York's Hurrah Club, which was redressed to resemble a Berlin nightclub (Bowie was appearing nightly on Broadway at the time so director Ulrich Edel had to shoot the sequence in New York).

1. V-2 Schneider
2. TVC 15
3. Heroes/Helden
4. Boys Keep Swinging
5. Sense Of Doubt
6. Station To Station (Live)
7. Look Back In Anger
8. Stay
9. Warszawa

See also

• Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station aka. Bahnhof Zoo
• Memento a novel by Radek John

External links

• Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo at the Internet Movie Database
• Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo at AllRovi
• Movie stills