Wie Feuer und Flamme (2001)

In 1982, well-mannered Nele from West Berlin would like to travel to the United States on a student exchange. Before that, however, she has to attend her grandmother’s funeral in East Berlin. There, she meets the rebellious punk Captain and falls in love with him. Because his views are interpreted as hostile to the state in the GDR, he is repeatedly interrogated by the Stasi. When Nele smuggles a videotape across the Friedrichstraße border crossing—a self-portrait of Captain’s punk band, which is then broadcast on West German television in a distorted form—the East German punks are arrested once again. After their release, the punks decide to correct the image of themselves shown on television and stage a spontaneous antifascist action by laying a wreath at the Neue Wache. Nele, who takes part, is arrested and deported to West Berlin, with a ban on re-entering the GDR. Meanwhile, the Stasi tries to turn the imprisoned punks against one another, creating the impression that Captain is a traitor. In reality, however, another band member is working with the Stasi. Unable to bear the separation any longer, Nele makes her way illegally to East Berlin in a truck carrying construction rubble. She goes to the Stasi, without success, hoping to take all the blame so that Captain will be released. In a brief encounter, she sees Captain for the last time before the fall of the Berlin Wall. After she is deported again, Nele contacts Captain’s parents by phone, but they turn her away, saying that Captain is dead. Nele uses the student exchange to stay in the United States. While at work, she sees footage of the previous day’s fall of the Berlin Wall on television on November 10, 1989, and learns of the Wende and the peaceful revolution in the GDR. She travels to Berlin to look for Captain. When she finally finds him some time later, she discovers that he had already been looking for her too.