Blutsfreundschaft

Sixteen-year-old Axel has dropped out of school; he has no apprenticeship in sight and the relationship with his family, especially his stepfather, is deteriorating rapidly.
Axel chooses to hang out with a gang of Neo-Nazis and skinheads, who become the friends he craves. But everything in life has its price. Led by the violent Lippi, the neo-Nazis attack a charitable soup kitchen. A series of unfortunate events lead to Axel stabbing to death Thomas Lorenz, the social worker in charge. On the run from the police, Axel hides in a nearby laundry run by Gustav Tritzinsky ( Helmut Berger). Gustav is eighty, and gay; he is amazed at the striking resemblance his teenage intruder bears to Gustav's first love, Hannes, who was kidnapped and murdered by the Nazis after Gustav caused the death of a member of the Hitler Youth. And so Gustav lets his 'burglar' stay the night. Before long, a weird friendship develops between the two men. Axel makes himself useful in the laundry - under the watchful eyes of the neo-Nazis, who have discovered that their gang-member has befriended a homosexual. Gustav's friends, among them the transvestite Christina Thuermer, urge Gustav to hand over Axel to the police before any more harm is done. When the neo-Nazi gang is targeted by the police in connection with the death of Thomas Lorenz, the gang decides to kill Gustav too, suspecting that Axel has confessed his crime to him.
In 2007 actor Helmut Berger received the SPECIAL TEDDY AWARD for his complete work.

details

  • Runtime

    92 min
  • Country

    Austria
  • Year of Presentation

    2010
  • Year of Production

    2009
  • Director

    Peter Kern
  • Cast

    Helmut Berger, Harry Lampl, Melanie Kretschmann, Michael Steinocher, Manuel Rubey, Oliver Rosskopf, Matthias Stein, Sophie Schlichting, Heribert Sasse, Gregor Seberg, Lukas Perman, Stefan Bachmann, Paul Matic, Traute Furthner, Jazz Gitti
  • Production Company

    Novotny & Novotny Filmproduktion
  • Berlinale Section

    Panorama
  • Berlinale Category

    Feature Film

Biography Peter Kern

Born in Vienna, Austria in 1949, he was a choirboy and stage actor and began working with Rainer Werner Fassbinder in 1973. In 1978 he won a German Film Award for his performances in HITLER – A FILM FROM GERMANY and FLAMING HEARTS. He directed his first feature film, CRAZY BOYS, in 1986, and has appeared in films by Werner Schroeter, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg and Christoph Schlingensief among others. FIFTYFIFTY screened in the Berlinale’s Short Film Competition in 2001 and BELIEF, LOVE, DEATH in the Panorama in 2012.