Wer fürchtet sich vorm schwarzen Mann (1989)

It begins with the televised New Year’s greetings for the turn of 1988 into 1989 in East Germany. And then you see it: the coal business, with the coal men. There are fewer and fewer of them, but those who are still around don’t dump the briquettes outside customers’ front doors; instead, they stack them in wooden bins and carry them through winding passageways down to the cellars, or even set them beside the kitchen stove for elderly women on the fourth floor. In the break room, owner Renate Uhle introduces all the men: people who may not have the best reputations, but who can all do the job and whom she can rely on. Her daughter is there too. She has been working as a teacher for 18 years and is expected to take over the business one day. The coal business has been in the family since 1922. Until the Berlin Wall was built, it was located at Gleimstraße 67, but then had to move a few metres away because the area had become part of the border zone. The boss is a kind, courteous woman who is always ready to listen to her customers and, when necessary, offer them a little comfort—even though, by her own admission, she unfortunately speaks faster than she thinks. Her husband is also shown; after suffering a stroke several years ago, he is no longer able to work in the business. The rattling, chugging diesel-powered “ant,” practically falling apart, serves customers between Bornholmer Straße and Eberswalder Straße. The coal men are rough, sensitive, gentle, thick-skinned, worldly and shy fellows, and they speak their minds in their own unvarnished way. Some private footage of them with their families is also shown. But most of the film is about their work. They unload a coal wagon at the freight yard, try to repair a very old trailer for their “ant,” deliver the coal, and sit together over a beer after work.