Sauerland native and Berliner Wolfgang Becker was greeted with “Good Bye, Lenin!” to the celebrated director, leading actor Daniel Brühl became a world star. The turning point comedy about a son who convinces his sick mother that the GDR continues to exist is considered one of the most successful German-language films of all time and was praised by the British newspaper The Times described as the “funniest film from Germany in a century”. “The Hero from Friedrichstraße Station” based on the novel of the same name by Maxim Leo was supposed to be Becker’s last film: he died shortly after filming was completed in December 2024.
Micha Hartung (Charly Hübner) is actually broke, even if he doesn't want to admit it. His Berlin neighborhood video store hasn't been running for years – no wonder: it's 2019, rental videos are almost as out as tube televisions, and the lovable, if slightly spoiled, Micha is literally up to his neck. All the court mail in the form of reminders and enforcement notices ends up unopened in a fruit box that is already well filled. But one day Micha's life changes abruptly – and unexpectedly for the better – when the journalist Alexander Landmann (Leon Ullrich) enters his shop and his life.
Micha (Charly Hübner) is the owner of a run-down video store and is completely burned out – but his life soon changes radically.
Because Landmann found out that Micha, as a former switchman for the Reichsbahn, was involved in the largest mass exodus in GDR history. But what's even more important: Landmann doesn't promise Micha that little money if he's willing to talk about what happened back then. 127 people were sitting in the S-Bahn, which due to a blocked switch – aha! – on a rather cool summer morning in 1984, drove straight to the west from East Berlin's Friedrichstrasse train station. Alexander Landmann, who is also not exactly blessed by fate, senses morning air and a great story that could catapult him to the top of the ranks of investigative journalists. Because thanks to his research, Germany has a hero on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall: Micha Hartung.
And that's exactly how it happens: Micha mutates from a loser to a success at breakneck speed. His name is on all the front pages, the video store is suddenly running like a fire department, and he can hardly avoid invitations to interviews and talk shows. Micha, initially shy and reserved, develops more and more entertainer qualities, for example when he sits in the TV studio with the GDR ice skating icon Kati Witt and jokes: “It's brighter here than in the death strip!” But what really happened back then? Micha's good heart increasingly feels guilty about a development that he can neither control nor stop. And then he meets Paula (Christiane Paul), who was sitting on the S-Bahn at the time…
Memories of “Good Bye, Lenin!” become awake
Wolfgang Becker, together with the screenwriter Constantin Lieb (“Everyone writes for themselves”), has transformed the entertaining novel by Maxim Leo into an extremely enjoyable filmic educational piece about historiography and understanding of history, which is accompanied by a nice whoosh-whoosh comedy music. It's a bit reminiscent of “Good Bye, Lenin!”, but it's completely different – and just as good on this different basis.
This is not just about the collective culture of remembrance, which, as is well known, can vary depending on origin and direction – on this or the other side of the Wall – but also and above all about people. And people, they were Wolfgang Becker's great specialty. The way he was able to draw characters, both in their comic and tragic dimensions, not only demonstrated a lot of humor, but also an incredibly good power of observation that was as realistic as it was understanding.
Paula (Christiane Paul) was sitting on the S-Bahn at the time, which – at least according to the media hero narrative – was redirected to the West through Micha's intervention.
Michael Hartung in “The Hero from Friedrichstrasse Station” is also a personality with rough edges, with serious character flaws as well as lovable quirks – not a doer, but rather a sufferer, actually not at all uncharming, but slightly to moderately neglected, both externally and internally. Nobody cares about him and he doesn't want anyone to care about him, not even his daughter Natalie (Leonie Benesch), whom he constantly lies about about his financial situation.
The fact that he, as a procrastinating loser, suddenly becomes the nation's hero hits him with all his might. And who could resist when it suddenly rains affection and money from everywhere? Heroism as a career booster – but naturally his rise is not met with universal approval. Harald Wischnewsky (Thorsten Merten), for example, who was imprisoned by the Stasi as a dissident and earns extra money as a pensioner by giving lectures in schools, is now completely deregistered. And suddenly it's about much more than a sloppy video store owner who perhaps didn't quite rightly end up at the top in no time and could very quickly find himself at the bottom again. Suddenly it's about old enemies and new friends, it's about fraternization and complicity and, last but not least, about old gangs. But despite all the comedy and irony: there is a lot of truth and seriousness behind the completely but really well invented story of the mass exodus and its unwilling hero.
Charly Hübner shines once again
It's not just about the issue of collective memory, but also about the dangerous dynamics of the media machine, which can turn enemies into allies and heroes out of failures – and vice versa. As always, the great Charly Hübner (“Lunch Hour”) plays his way straight into the hearts of the audience as a likeable neighborhood Berliner. It's unforgettable how he stands in front of his video store in his bathrobe at the beginning: the perfect loser – a man who doesn't care about anything. He is supported by the top guard of the German acting scene, including Leonie Benesch (“The Teacher's Room”) and Christiane Paul as the clever, cool Paula, who doesn't seem to fit in with the rather clumsy Micha. There are also cameo appearances in smaller roles with many familiar faces from previous Wolfgang Becker films – but you should just be surprised by them!
Conclusion: Charly Hübner in a tragicomic brilliant role as an unwilling conman with heart and scruples – and by the way a bittersweet, ironic statement on historiography and understanding of history.