Yo, Cristina F

This powerful and shocking movie is an adaption from the bestselling book based on the true story of Christiane F. Having lived in Berlin until the mid 80's and being the same age as Christiane F. I can only stress the authencity of both book and movie. Berlin was a dark and depressing city at the time, yet a true metropolis with all its problems. You didn't have to be part of the "drug scene" to notice it everywhere in the downtown and surrounding area. Strung out junkies hitting you up for money in subway stations, streetwalkers, prostitutes at the Bahnhof Zoo ... the magazine article, followed by the book and movie just kind of brought it out in the open and documented the problem. The movie is still relevant 20 years later, one just have to put it a bit in perspective.

The soundtrack with David Bowie's music (newly rereleased on CD) is powerful and fits the overall mood perfect. Note: Christiane F. continued to struggle with her drug addiction until 1996 when she had her son. She lives in Berlin.

I recently saw the original version of this film. Although i dont speak fluent german i found it easy enough to understand the plot through the amazing actors. Its not a story that gives away the end before its time. I reccomend it to anyone of any age but be warned there are some graphic scenes which may upset some people. It has totaly put in perspective of drugs and the real nasty and harsh side. This film is not seen through rose coloured glasses. It is a true story and allows us to have a deeper insight into the desperation of addicts and the lengths and detriments they go to for the amzing feeling.

I really wasn't prepared for this film, or was I? I had been recommended it, and told it was disturbing, but it certainly had a massive effect on me.

Christiane F is the true story of a girl who gets seduced by the German nightlife and David Bowie, and slowly drifts onto heroin.

There are several disturbing parts of this movie. The heroin/prostitution scenes are disturbing, but I didn't get disturbed by these as much as I did the story. The media would have us believe that heroin users and dealers are monsters and don't have a right to live. The people in this movie are real, and easy to identify with.

I definitely recommend this movie, and compared to Trainspotting (a film I also enjoyed) is much more realistic.

I've seen many films portraying drug addiction but none with such terrifying authenitcity as this film. It's funny. I haven't really thought about this film in years and what made me suddenly think of it now was I was thinking about movies on my DVD wish list. CHRISTIANE F was on that list. So for s***s and giggles I ran a routine search in the Internet Movie Database (this site is GOD!!!) and low and behold, it was out!!! Naturally, I placed my order for it. As much as I wished it was the subtitled version (which is only available in PAL), I have the German version as well as the dubbed so that's not that bad. To those who have seen REQUIEM FOR A DREAM and thought that it was the most disturbing film they've seen about drug addiction, I have news for ya: you haven't seen anything yet! CHRISTIANE F., makes REQUIEM look like a Disney film in comparison. Although the English dubbing is really cheesy and bad, still it doesn't detract from Ulrich Edel's images of the dark, seedy, and depressing world of heroin addicts.

Subtitled, "Image of a Generation", CHRISTIANE F is the true story of a lonely, bored teenager in the '70's who gets into the drug scene at 12, hooked on heroin at 13 and becomes a prostitute at 14 to support her habit. There are a couple of things about this that struck me. First, was that Edel used all unknowns for the main parts, especially the kids. They acted so naturally, that even Edel makes the comment that "it's a wonder they haven't been actors or junkies their whole lives." Also the kids who played the main characters, were as close to the age as the real people they were portraying. Nadja Brunckhorst, who plays Christiane, was fourteen at the time and does a remarkable job. In fact, this movie pretty much made her a star in Germany and to this day has had a prolific acting career, mainly on German TV as well as some film work. The second was the use of David Bowie's music in the soundtrack. Now, I'm biased. I'm a huge fan of Bowie but even if I wasn't, his music was used to staggering effect. Truly memorable was the scene toward the end of the film as Bowie's song 'Sense of Doubt' is played in the background as Edel's camera pans across the sad, ghostly faces of people at the subway platform. The music captures the despair of the scene very well, almost too well for comfort. The music serves, as any great film music should, as another character in the film, helping to portray the despair, loneliness, bravado, confusion of adolescence. I feel I can identify with Christiane and her life when I was her age. I was lonely, alienated, and sad. Where as she escaped her pain with drugs, I escaped mine through my writing. I can sympathize completely. You want to fit in with a group so badly that you'll do things that you know you shouldn't just to "be cool". Well, I really wish more teenagers would be shown this film. Would it change a life? Maybe. I do know one thing for me: after reading her book, from which this film is based, I've found a kindred soul. From what I know, she is clean and has been since the film's original release. I hope she continues to have the strength to remain so. Because once a junkie, always a junkie. "We can be heroes, just for one day."-David Bowie, 'Heroes' This song becomes a very understated theme for this film, a song about hope in a film where there's very little hope to be found.

I have seen so many films about drug addiction, and not one of them can equal the sheer power of this one. The life of this 14 year old West Berlin junkie is crafted with an astounding level of realism. Her downward spiral into heroin addiction and prostitution is captured by Ulrich Edel, who holds nothing back in his depiction. We see through Christiane's eyes, every filthy toilet, every creepy, slimy john whom she must trick with for drug money, every moment of terror and desperation. At this age, everything is felt so intensely. Christiane, a young teenager from a "hell on Earth" place called Gropistadt, a truly dark and bleak part of Neukoln, West Berlin. A place where there is absolutely nothing for a teenager to do. She discovers a place called "The Sound", a cavernous disco located near the posh and touristy "Kurfuerstendamm". "The Sound" is a seedy teen hangout, infested with drugs, and with dealers only too happy to feed Valium and heroin to kids eager to escape their dreary reality and to have fun. Here is where Christiane meets Detlef, a boy her age. Detlef starts using heroin soon after they meet, and Christiane, scared of losing him to the drug, begins using also. It is especially important to notice that the film doesn't glamorize heroin. As soon as the hard drug use begins, the mood of the film changes instantly. The wonderful music of David Bowie whom Christiane worships is heard frequently throughout the first section of the film. After her and her friends become junkies, the Bowie music disappears, which is very symbolic, i think. Thankfully director Edel didn't make the mistake that so many American directors make when filming stories about teens: The actors here are genuine teenagers, around 14/15 years old. This makes the film so much more powerful and shocking, and much more believable. The effects of heroin on these kids is staggering to behold; they turn into these sickly shadows of their former selves, like zombies, in search of their next fix. And strangely, Christiane and her friends never seem to enjoy the high from the heroin. You will never see such a bleak vision of kids lost in a surreal hell of drug addiction. And to add further to the intensity, the film is long, 138 minutes uncut, becoming steadily darker and seedier by the minute, until the viewer wonders just how long can this young girl go on like this without completely self-destructing. And amazingly, throughout the running time, the film never preaches, not for a moment. And it never becomes sentimental, as most American drug films often do. The film style is specifically German. I doubt that any American director could have created such a dark and gritty film about people so young. "Christiane F: Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo" remains one of the most well-known and admired films to ever come out of Germany.