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Sonne und Beton (2023)

Sonne und Beton - The hard German version of Stand by Me

Sonne und Beton is a movie based on the book with the same name by German comedian Felix Lobrecht. Despite the author's upcoming in the same part of Berlin where the story takes place, Berlin-Gropiusstadt, the story is a fictional one. We are following a group of four friends in their young teens, Lukas, Gino, Julius and Sanchez, watching them with their daily struggles in one of the roughest parts of Berlin.

This film is best described with one word: raw. As most of the cast is comprised of every day people and barely any recognized actors took part in the production, the film as a whole and especially the actor's performances feel very real and authentic. As a lot of German dialects are spoken, I suspect that this movie is not very easy to follow for most non-native speakers if you do not use subtitles. Even I as a native speaker had some trouble understanding a couple of sentences.

Overall, this film is quite brutal, honest but also thought-provoking through the portrayal of all the family problems in a poor part of German's capital. The struggle between trying to get out of your bad childhood, maybe even pursuing higher education and the reality that may be limiting you is portrayed really well. It also hits on the topics of immigration, domestic abuse and drug use while still portraying some light-hearted humor in parts.

All in all, definitely one of the better films the German cinema has produced over the last couple of years and worth a watch!