Fono-Film

A group of German boys are ordered to protect a small bridge in their home village during the waning months of the second world war. Truckloads of defeated, cynical Wehrmacht soldiers flee the approaching American troops, but the boys, full of enthusiasm for the "blood and honor" Nazi ideology, stay to defend the useless bridge. The film is based on a West German anti-war novel of the same name, written by Gregor Dorfmeister.

Mathilde Kratzer owns the entertainment venue "Bei Mathilde" (At Mathilde's). Her roommate Max also has a financial stake in the establishment, but only as a silent partner, which is why he works either as Mathilde's servant or as the bouncer. He would love to rename the venue "Bei Max und Mathilde" (At Max and Mathilde's), but Mathilde would rather return his investment. Because she can't afford to do so, Max is in financial trouble and is being relentlessly pursued by the tax authorities.

March, 1945: The insecure and hesitant reserve lieutenant Felix Bleck receives orders to lead a transport of 40 prisoners to the Western Front, where the men are to be burned up in a punishment battalion. On the way there, Bleck realizes the inhuman futility of his assignment and makes a fateful decision.

After leaving his overbearing wife for another woman, a composer is suspected of her murder when she is found dead.

Young Olga Ahrendt almost succeeded in attempting suicide. She had thrown herself in front of a tram out of desperation about her miserable life, a desperation she shared with many in the post-war period. Fortunately, Privy Councillor Sauerbruch is at the scene of the incident, ordering her to be admitted to his clinic after a brief examination. Sauerbruch works both as a university lecturer and as a surgeon, a famous doctor who not only helps his patients physically but also gives them spiritual comfort. After he has taken Olga Ahrendt to his hospital, he discovers during an examination that her suicide attempt is due to a serious physical illness. He intensively takes care of her without forgetting about his other patients, to whom he can give a new will to live, even if only through a small story. And he will also treat Olga Ahrendt successfully...

While working as an accountant in his uncle's factory, talented young pianist Peter dreams of becoming a famous composer. When he shows his work to a producer, he manages to convince him to give him a chance. From time to time he gets bigger contracts that keep him more and more away from home and his young wife Elisa. When he "discovers" and supports a pretty ballerina in Munich, a rumor starts that he's having an affair. He fails to realize that his marriage is threatened.

This German slice-of-life drama is based on a very real postwar dilemma. At the time the film was made, there were over 3000 children living in Germany who'd been fathered by African American GIs. Referred to as "mischlings," these children were often treated as outcasts because of their illegitimacy and skin color. One such mischling is Toxi (played by herself), who is sent to live with her American father when her mother dies. At first, Toxi is welcomed with opened arms, but the father, who already has two children, has neither the time nor the money to care for the girl. Toxi is then bundled off to an orphanage, sparking a serious rift in her father's family. By concentrating on a highly fictionalized plotline, Toxi tends to ignore the thousands of other mischlings whose lives are far more complex and tragic than that of the film's central character.