Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen (2006) Reviews

• Intense inside look of a (failed) dream

  webwude2006-10-09

  After watching the trailer, everyone, who had the chance of participating the world cup this summer in Germany, wishes to watch this movie, especially, if you are a German team sympathizer. What do you get: 108 Minutes of an intense look of a great team with a lot of young, but talented soccer players from Germany, all the way from about three weeks before the opening match to the last match of the team, the "Third Place match". It isn't an usual documentary, you only get the main events during the match of the German team. The movie begins after losing the semifinal against Italy, just watching sad and disappointed players. Then, the whole journey is told, from the fitness training over the first group matches to the finals. You'll see some funny events during this time, a lot of interviews with both players and staff. You also get the chance to see the last words of the coach before the matches start. Almost everyone, who watched this movie, felt the atmosphere of those fantastic four weeks here in Germany. You may need to be interested in the sport to enjoy this movie. More than that, you should know at least the main characters (coach Klinsmann e.g.). Otherwise you will have some problems to understand some of the events taking place during the movie. Bottom line: Midfielder Frings said at the end of the movie: "we (the team) should have deserved more" (meaning more then the third place). After accompanying the team through this movie, you probably say: "you're definitely right". As viewer, you will realize the broken dream, but you will enjoy this movie.

• great movie/documentation

  spuncken2006-10-09

  Well, I am used to the omni-present criticism of Germans. That's why I would like to say: well done, Sönke! Great documentation, funny situations. Would have loved to see more of the boot camp in Italy, though;) Looking forward to the DVD release with additional scenes. My friend and me had to smile every other scene. And it was quite an insight to see what happens in the locker room before, during and after a game - especially for someone who (like me) has never played a team sport on a competition level. And even Ballack grew on me - I never really liked him before - which might have to do with my fondness of Werder Bremen, though;)But of course the hero is Torsten "Lutscher" Frings! Why? See for yourself!!

• Summer 2006 - The greatest of them all

  warstrikesback2006-12-06

  In the course of four weeks (June 9 until July 9, 2006) Germany was nothing but a huge party. Celebrating the fantastic achievements of our national soccer team. Sönke Wortmann, the director of this documentation, accompanied the team during this time. "Deutschland - Ein Sommermärchen" gives us a glance behind the curtain. The beginning is at the same time the most tragical moment. The defeat against Italy along with the grieving players and coaches. Afterwards the movie chronologically goes the way from the training camp until the semi - final. We are able to see the players in their training sessions, tactical discussions among the coaching staff, and lots of fooling around from the young players like Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski. We can see that a team was growing. We can see the intense sense of community and solidarity among them. The documentation doesn't focus on the soccer scenes alone. However, it doesn't neglect them. We see the goals again, the enthusiastic fans, the hilarious atmosphere which infected the whole country. I'm glad we also see a lot of what happened apart from the football ground. It's interesting to see what happened in the dressing room while we (the fans watching on TV) were fetching another drink or going to the toilet or whatever we did during the breaks. Altogether I can recommend this documentation to everyone who had fun in the great summer 2006. And I recommend it to everyone who considers the Germans to be some non-smiling accurate work-robots. It was a unique experience. A whole nation was backing up its soccer team. National flags were waving from every car, every house. It was, as if Germany had completely changed over night. That's why we call it a summer fairy-tale - "Ein Sommermärchen".

• They are people like me and you ..

  gotoguy-12006-10-06

  I remember watching sort of a similar movie concerning France winning the WC in 1998. It was a phenomenal movie and I thought, french players are something special in terms of still being in a "growing-up" phase, making fun with others and just having a good time while earning their money. This movie is great, it reveals, that all of this guys, even though most of them a millionaires, are still humans, who live their life like u and me. Although I am half German too, I never thought my fellow men could behave like the multicultural team of France, but they do ! I think u get a great view of the German Team, if u don't already know it. If you watch this movie, i think you will understand, why this Team had such a great success. Wortmann shows and mixture of guys, who perfectly match up. Young guns like Schweinsteiger and Podolski, making jokes all the time, just like the young boys do, when I go out of my house and ol' "rabbits" (Thats the way we call it in Germany) like Nowotny and Kahn, supporting the Team whenever they can. The movie makes you feel connected to these guys, because it takes away some prejudices and wipes away the cut and dried opinions of them working wonders. Jürgen Klinsmann puts up the same statements like a 7th league coach, talking to a defender ("He will smell your breath all the time, Arne!"). In a nutshell, after watching the movie, I think if I would meet Podolski on the street court next to my house, and if he really had time for it, he would never reject playing some One on One soccer games with me and joking about passing girls ..

• A report, no documentary.

  dreamer.ice2006-10-04

  Wortmann's "Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen" does not really contain anything you would've missed watching the World Cup on TV (in Germany), it does not contribute additional in-depth information about tactics or any other part of the German team's methods - yet it does a good job at summing up an event millions won't forget. Its arguably strongest scene is right at the beginning, showing the team crushed in the dressing room right after losing the semi-finals to Italy. Other than that it follows the German team throughout the 2006 World Cup, showing many nice anecdotes and avoiding any criticism of the team itself, true to Klinsmann's spirit.