I love this movie so much

Sick Product of a Sick System

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

"Christiane F." is a bleak, harrowing look at drug abuse among Berlin youth in the 1970s.It is perhaps the grittiest look at addiction I've ever seen on film.The only problem is that you never really get close to the characters. You get close to what they do - and what the people around them do - but you never feel like you know the main character that well.Part of the power of the movie comes from the casting of an actress who looks every bit as young as the character she's playing. You see her come precariously close to danger so many times, but the movie would be much more gripping if we were able to get closer to her.The movie has many nauseating scenes of drug use and the sickness that results from it. I couldn't help thinking that this would be a good movie to show to kids to turn them off drugs. I actually felt physically ill while watching parts of it.

If you grew up in Germany during the 1980s, "Christiane F" would seem forever present, no matter where you looked. The film was a mayor hit at the box-office and excerpts from the original novel were made homework in almost all schools. One couldn't open up a boulevard-paper or magazine without coming across horror-stories about yet another youngster that has overdosed in a seedy toilet by the train-station, generally accompanied by a photo of said toilet and corpse (more often than not looking horrible fake). Indeed, most kids that the distinct impression that, should they fall with the wrong crowd and – heaven beware – ever take a drag from a joint, that they would surely join that ever-growing horde of junkies that seemed to take over the subways like an army of the living dead. At least such was the impression.First of: those drug-hotspots did exist, they do exist and – unless one day some sensible drug-policies are implicated and the politics stop catering to big-business drug-cartels – they will exist forevermore. Go to any major train-station between Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin, and you'll find junkies loitering around. And yes, if you look suitable gullible, you'll likely be approached by an 'ex-junkie, freshly sober and clean' who'll request some financial assistance, that will enable him to 'reach a far-off place, where a job is waiting for him or her'. But what you won't find is this seemingly post-apocalyptic scenario that "Christiane F" has painted, simply because it never existed other than in the media and the minds of the people.One must give kudos to the film and the director: It shows the effect of heavy drug-addiction as realistic and relentless as "Leaving Las Vegas" shows the effect of alcohol-abuse. The horrors of being a junkie, drifting ever further the social-ladder and the descent into addiction, prostitution and eventually death are indeed harrowing. However, when it comes to the subject of the protagonist and the severity of the general problems, more than just some artistic-liberties have been taken.Unlike the novel and the interviews with (the real) Christiane F, the film neglects to tell us, that Christiane and her friends already come from a severely disturbed, low-class background. Germanys social-system (or if you want, "caste-system") is very rigid, similar to that in the US. "Can't deny your roots" and if you happen to come from a redneck or white trash background, it is very unlikely that all the money in the world will be able to wash that background off.The movie would like to make us believe that any 'nice girl from next door' can slide down into the living hell of the junkie-world, but that is only half true. True, anybody can get hooked on drugs, be it nicotine, heroin, coffee or the adrenaline rush received from extreme sports. But to become part of this little world of Christiane F (horrible as it may be), it would require an exposure that literally begins at birth.So, despite all the truth in "Christiane F", one also has to admit that it is vastly exaggerated and, in the context of media-politics (especially in the West) also very manipulative. Look no further than the current anti-drug campaigns, that assure us that smoking marijuana is the beginning of the end (no, marijuana leads to harder drugs like thinking leads to madness). You will no doubt have read about Crystal-Meth, that currently turns a whole generation into an army of toothless, violent zombies. Or about the drug Krokodil looming on the horizon, a drug 50-times as potent as heroin and making the flesh virtually rot off the user's bones. They do exist, Crystal-Meth and/or Krokodil – but like most illegal things, they are more detrimental to the individual and not the society.As much as I cherish "Christiane F" as a movie, it's relentless realism, the excellent actors (both the professionals and the laymen) and not being able to deny that it is one of the most accomplished anti-drug-films of all times, I cannot help to think that it's neither an answer to anything, nor at the essence very much more than a parody (albeit a harrowing one) of the drug-culture and the general situation. As such I can give it no more than 6/10.

Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo is an adaptation of the 1979 book, which in turn is based on a true story. The film is extremely realistic in its depiction of drug use and their side effects. The withdrawal scene in particular was very disturbing. The actors did an excellent job. Everything was believable.The soundtrack was composed entirely by David Bowie, and is somewhat depressing at times. This was a low budget production, however, it does not disappoint. There's a certain style, a little "something" that adds to the overall quality of the film. The characters, plot, music and setting help create an "atmosphere". It's perfect. I would be overjoyed if I found another flick with a similar atmosphere.The film's duration may be a problem with some viewers. It's about 2 hours and 11 minutes long (uncensored), and it may take a while for the story to "take off". The first half hour is merely an introduction to what is going to come up next. I was put off for a while because it can be hard to find motivation and time to sit through 2+ hours of video, but I am glad that I watched this now.Many people seem to believe that the real Christiane F. has died, however, she is still alive and (somewhat) drug-free.Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo is also very educational, and even though there are sexual elements to the story, I would recommend this to a teenager as a warning about the dangers of drug abuse.I give this 10/10.

Christiane F is powerfully confronting on it's first view. I first saw it, when I was 14. As just seeing it the other day, it is still a powerful engaging film about teenage drug addiction, which the two leads, so convincingly play, there's never a moment you don't believe em', where you forget they're actors. The film was surprisingly made by the same guy who made Body Of Evidence, where a couple of years earlier, he did that powerful and one of a kind art-house film, Last Exit To Brooklyn. Here, we follow Christine's life from 11 upwards, where she's learning quick, trying to escape the tedium of living with just her mother and sister in Berlin. Little Sis splits, leaving the duo, where Christiane and her mother are slowly drifting apart. Mummy has this new boyfriend, which of course like any daughter, disapproves of. The boyfriend gives her a David Bowie record, where she already has that particular album, a point to be made there. After clubbing about with her best friend, she meets her first boyfriend, Detlev, already an addict/and part time hustler, working the train station where perverted older clients with a lot of doe pick em up. Drug taking runs high in this, the first shock scene has a guy who overdoses in a cubicle, which reminded of how frank and shockingly real that scene was. Obviously that nameless guy was a bloody good actor. Also in close up, a little too close, we see as a test of love, Christiane pin pricking here skin, making a tattoo. Soon she graduates to H, and there's a private room, where an H is painted on the door. We follow her descent, and more a need for companionship. One cold turkey scene, ends with her and boyfriend, Detlev vomiting over each other (the things actors have to do). There are people who will misjudge this film as amateur, or a sleazy made for shock value film, but sometimes you have to shock to get a message across. I admit it felt a bit of amateur, but I think I was manipulated over the negative or bad reviews. Yes the movie does have faults, but it's shockingly powerful. But the big flaw, I found in the whole movie, was the scattered structure of story, and it's connected scenes, not making it the easiest film to follow in that respect. It was like we were missing some bits, and other parts of it were moving too quick, or weren't explained enough, where the journey of the story wasn't the clearest, and this is what downgraded it's quality, and with the film being dubbed didn't help. But still it's a powerfully charged movie from 83', a cult hit, you have to experience, with a memorable last scene on an island, where Christine cleans up.