Der Held vom
Bahnhof Friedrichstraße
('The Hero of
Friedrichstrasse Station')
A film by Wolfgang Becker
Micha Hartung owns a video rental shop in Berlin that is about to go bust when he inadvertently becomes the reunited Germany's hero: on the 30th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, a journalist mistakenly identifies him as the mastermind behind the largest mass escape from the GDR and thereby suddenly turns Micha's life upside down. The reluctant impostor soon entangles himself in a web of semi-truths and downright lies, and when the fragile house of cards built on the false story about him threatens to collapse and his life is about to really descend into chaos, he meets Paula. Micha would not have thought it possible that a successful, clever and funny woman like her could be interested in a man like him. However, the beginning of their love story is overshadowed by the lie. Der Held vom Bahnhof Friedrichstraße is a heartwarming comedy about history as a myth, the pitfalls of German remembrance culture and life as a game of remembering, forgetting and inventing. It is an enjoyable lesson about the hierarchy of historiography, and a film about the power of storytelling.
The film – which was in part filmed at Neuhardenberg Castle – is the last work of Wolfgang Becker, who wrote cinema history with the film Good Bye Lenin! and passed away in December 2024. After the screening, Charly Hübner and the producer Stefan Arndt reminisce about Wolfgang Becker and discuss his last film with the journalist Petra Gute.
