Eu, Christiane F., 13 Anos, Drogada e Prostituída

I watched this movie out of sheer coincidence thanks to IMDb. Two days back I watched "Requiem for a Dream" and today after watching this movie, I felt "Requiem-." was a joke.

This is an open letter to Natja Brunckhorst, who has performed a role I have never ever seen on celluloid before and maybe I might not even see it in the many years to come. Surprising she didn't get an Oscar for her role.

The movie transported me to an era 30 years back and I in fact felt like one of the characters in the movie. The real fickle mindedness of teens has been shown in an extremely realistic way.

All the characters are well developed and there are many scenes in the movie which can send you tear gland's to work. The film has a mystic element in it which I have never experienced before. The soundtrack is perfect especially the music which comes to the end of the movie sends a chill through one's spine.

Watch this movie, if you like watching movies which have strong emotional content in them otherwise let it go as this master piece cannot be spoken low of.

The movies after effects are still on me and I myself feel drugged watching this movie. A perfect 10 and no other movie can be compared to this one!

Cheers!

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.

"Christiane F." is a bleak, harrowing look at drug abuse among Berlin youth in the 1970s.

It is perhaps the grittiest look at addiction I've ever seen on film.

The only problem is that you never really get close to the characters. You get close to what they do - and what the people around them do - but you never feel like you know the main character that well.

Part of the power of the movie comes from the casting of an actress who looks every bit as young as the character she's playing. You see her come precariously close to danger so many times, but the movie would be much more gripping if we were able to get closer to her.

The movie has many nauseating scenes of drug use and the sickness that results from it. I couldn't help thinking that this would be a good movie to show to kids to turn them off drugs. I actually felt physically ill while watching parts of it.

Christiane F - We The Children Of Bahnhof Zoo is a 1981 film directed by Ulrich Edel based on the torrid accounts of a young girl living in West Berlin during the 1970's and her addiction to heroin and subsequent descent into prostitution.

Based on the accounts of her non-fiction book of the same name the film details the period in which she began experimenting with drugs, such as cannabis and L.S.D, to her initial foray into heroin use and ending with her complete abasement.

Shot with a low budget and employing a large number of first time actors, many of whom chose never to further a career in film, as well as a large number of extras sourced by the production team who were in fact real life junkies and down and outs. These factors alone contribute to the films startling sense of realism and authenticity.

Also, many of the films locations such as the club where Christiane hung out and the nefarious "Zoo" station where young addicts would prostitute themselves are the original locations in which the characters experiences are based, adding further to the films genuine portrayal of the seedy drug scene of West Berlin in the 70's.

The cinematography is bleak and unforgiving and brilliantly captures the barbarous nature of the scene and subject matter. Edels sparse and careful approach gives the piece an almost documentary style and no doubt this unflinching depiction, along with the graphic, perfunctory portrayal of teenage drug abuse contributed to its controversy.

Natja Brunckhorst provides the role of Chritiane and turns an astonishing debut as the heart breaking girl whose life debases to unimaginable depths within such a short space of time. Showing many audiences across Europe that the looming Heroin epidemic was not just confined to older people but also its ruthless and savage affects and how immediate its ravages take place.

This film pulls no punches. Its gritty, no nonsense representation of heroin, and its consequences, are shocking and tragic. The director also manages to take these dissolute children and allow us to view them free of judgement and witness first hand the terrible conditions in which some youths find themselves living within the confines of a so called civilised society. Many a question will arise when watching this film; how, why etc. But its principal aim is to simply allow us a front row seat to a window into a world most of us are hitherto unaccustomed - the nefarious, cruel and grievous life of a teenage addict who ambulates the inevitable path toward prostitution and ultimately burnout.

A great film with fantastic performances and above else, a great soundtrack provided by David Bowie. If you thought Trainspotting back in the late 90's was a shocking film about heroin abuse then this piece will hit you hard because despite its cult status this film is as real and as heart breaking as it gets.

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.