Alle meine Mädchen (1980)

Ralf Päschke is a film student at the film academy, making a documentary about a work brigade at the NARVA factory in Berlin. The brigade, regarded as exemplary, consists entirely of young women and is led by Master Worker Boltzin, who has 30 years of service. Ralf soon realizes that various conflicts are simmering behind the perfect façade. There is young Kerstin, who is especially oppressed by Anita, the union representative. Unlike everyone else, Kerstin completed her Abitur, has a prior conviction for theft, and is therefore in the brigade only on probation. Anita has just been left by her boyfriend, Susi is rebellious and always late, and Ella is having an affair with a married man. The conflicts erupt when the five young women—Ella, Susi, Anita, Kerstin, and Gertrud—learn on camera from Ralf that their brigade is to be broken up in six months because a new production line is being set up. The master worker feels slighted: she herself had only learned of this recently and had spoken out against it. The young women, in turn, believe they have been kept in the dark and accuse their master worker of being uncollegial. She then pulls out a little notebook in which she has recorded all of the women’s work infractions: missed shifts, missed hours, and missed minutes. The situation escalates, and Mrs. Boltzin leaves her workplace without a word. Kerstin prevents Ralf from filming the final episode as well. When the young women try to visit their master worker at home, she refuses to see them. A short time later, after a nervous breakdown, Mrs. Boltzin is admitted to a sanatorium. The five women visit her, stay overnight at an inn not far from the sanatorium, and get to know both Mrs. Boltzin’s alcoholic boyfriend and Ralf, who joins them without his camera and soon starts a relationship with Kerstin. Back at the factory, bonuses of 30 marks are paid out. Kerstin, who is not a member of the brigade, receives only half the bonus the others get, causing tension. When Kerstin says she intends to put her money into the solidarity fund anyway, the others follow suit. The next day, the 65 marks they have collected are missing, and Kerstin is suspected of stealing them. Anita tells her to return the money by the following day. Sure enough, the next day an envelope containing 65 marks is on the table, and Anita also finds the money that had been thought stolen. She is embarrassed. Kerstin quits her job at NARVA and wants to move in with Ralf, but he can offer her only a temporary place to stay. When, after a joke, he comes to believe that Kerstin really did steal the money, she immediately leaves him. Mrs. Boltzin returns to work. A “newcomer” joins the brigade in Kerstin’s place. At the end, all the women watch Ralf’s film and conclude that it always portrays life far too idealistically.