Schwere Jungs

Winter Olimpics of 1952 was the first international event in which Germany participated after the World War II. It was a great opportunity to symbolically restore the friendly relations between Germany and other nations. However, the emissaries of this consent were the bobsleigh teams formed of men who hated one another from early childhood, had very bad manners and certain family problems that they happened to bring along.

Though the first half of the movie is slightly boring, from the point when our heroes arrive at Oslo the real comedy starts with a variety of misunderstandings and embarrassing situations.

It's probably not a very faithful representation of how the real events looked like, but it's really enjoyable to watch the plot with some crazy twists and turns to be built on a real story. There is of course a message in the movie. It's not exactly about friendship, but definitely showing the value of agreeing to do something together against the odds for some greater cause.

And for sure I have never before and never after laughed so hard during an epilogue.

This is no "Wer früher stirbt, ist länger tot", director Rosenmüller's last and very prominent work. "Schwere Jungs" is visibly a low-budget production driven by excellent character work. It's strength lies in the actors and the quaint fifties setting of upper Bavaria. If there are flaws, then they stem from the attempt to cram some 6 or so sub-plots into a movie already laden with storyline. To keep it all together, Rosenmüller had to invent cross-connections between characters and motivations that strain credibility. Another minus are the fake Bavarian accents some of the actors come up with. It's good to have quality talent on-screen, but couldn't they have found some native Bavarians?