Kameradschaft (1931)
Directed By: G. W. Pabst
Starring: Alexander Granach, Fritz Kampers, Daniel Mendaille, Ernst Busch, Elisabeth Wendt Gustav Püttjer
Length: 90 min.
Genre: Disaster Drama
This story is based on the real-life Courričres mine disaster in which 1,099 miners died. Rescue teams from both Paris and Germany contributed to the rescue attempts.
The movie takes place in 1930's Europe at a mine on the border of Germany and France. A few scenes show the tension between the French and German workers. There are many out of work miners as the world economy has taken a nose dive. Interesting how the world's economy has become a central point in movies from the US to Germany to Japan. I remember in Tokyo Chorus, Hoover was even mentioned by name.
A fire on the French side gets out of control and causes a collapse. German rescue workers show up to help with the rescue attempt. At one point, three miners break through the bars set up in the mine at the French-German border. They weren't going to help (I don't think...) but they end up helping an old miner and his injured grandson, who represents the child labor used in mines in those days.
The movie ends with two speeches about camaraderie (Kameradschaft) between the miners, one in French and one in German. The last scene is the recreation of the bars separating France and Germany in the mine.
As for my rating, this movie was dreadfully boring. Being a Disaster Drama movie, the effects and stunts were center stage, and despite my best efforts to get myself back into a 1930s mentality when watching these movies, the visuals didn't draw me in. Nice to see what state of the art visuals in German cinema were in 1931, but as far as how much I enjoyed watching the movie: I didn't.
My Rating: 4/10
IMDB User Rating: 7.4/10 (925 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A, 83% of Audience (3.8 / 5 ; 181 votes)