he shocking story of seven teenage boys who are drafted into the
German army in a futile effort to stop the enemy invasion.
Germany, April 1945. Friends and schoolmates, a group of
teenage boys from a small town are impatiently waiting to be
drafted. Fiercely patriotic, they believe that to fight for their
fatherland is the ultimate honor. When the boys are finally called
to duty, they are elated, but their teacher secretly appeals to the
company sergeant to spare them from the war. The company sergeant
gets permission to have the boys watch a strategically useless
bridge, which is going to be blown up anyway. Not aware of this, the
boys take their orders very seriously. They refuse to leave their
posts even when fleeing German troops retreat across the bridge. As
dawn breaks, American tanks suddenly appear and try to cross the
bridge. The boys fight bravely, and the Americans finally retreat,
but only two of the young men survive. When German soldiers arrive
to blow up the bridge, the boys realize that their friends' deaths
were senseless and open fire on their countrymen.
Bernhard Wicki was born in 1919 in
Austria and died in 2000 in Munich. He studied Acting and
Photography in Berlin and Vienna, followed by theater work in
Vienna, Munich, Salzburg and Zurich. His first film role was in Der
fallende Stern (1950). Thereafter, he starred in numerous other
films including Die letzte Bruecke (1954), Es geschah am 20. Juli
(1955), Weil du arm bist, musst du frueher sterben (1956), Die
Zuercher Verlobung, and the Italian production Die Nacht (La notte,
1961). He made his directorial debut with the documentary Warum sind
sie gegen uns? (1958), a film about youth problems in the Federal
Republic of Germany. He went on to direct Miracle of Malachias (Das
Wunder des Malachias,1961), the Duerrenmatt-adaptation The Visit (Der Besuch,1964), Die Zitadelle (1977), The Longest Day
(Der
laengste Tag, 1962), Morituri (1965), Karpfs Karriere (TV, 1972),
Die Gruenstein-Variante (1984), Sansibar oder der letzte Grund
(1987) and Spider's Web (Das Spinnennetz, 1989), which won a German
Film Award in 1990. The Bridge (Die Bruecke) was also nominated in
1959 for the OSCAR for Best Foreign Film.
<
BACK