The Second World War is over and now begins in post-war Germany, the reconstruction. Jakob Formann sees his chance here and begins a rapid rise as an entrepreneur.
Acting
Kukura's slippery charisma makes you root for a monster.
Production
Chaotic energy of bombed-out Germany reborn as farce.
Director
Peter Zadek
Juraj Kukura
Jakob Formann
Peter Kern
Franz Arnusch
Christine Kaufmann
Natascha
Sunnyi Melles
Bambi
Beatrice Richter
Dr. Malthus
Eva Mattes
Hilde Werwolf
Dietrich Mattausch
Wenzel Prill
Hermann Lause
Mario Schreiber
Paul Esser
Senator Hilton
Klaus Höhne
Colonel Hobson
Ilja Richter
Rasender Reporter
Willy Millowitsch
Professor Donner
Freddy Quinn
General Mark Clark
Brigitte Mira
Frau Willmsen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Zadek, a German-Jewish director who fled the Nazis, returned to eviscerate the Wirtschaftswunder myth—this is personal revenge dressed as comedy.
The film bombed in 1983 because West Germans weren't ready to laugh at their own success story; only later did critics recognize its brutal prescience about 1990s reunification grifters.
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