MovieChat Forums > Männer wie wir (2004) Discussion > Great movie, but there is ONE mistake in...

Great movie, but there is ONE mistake in my opinion: the casting


I am German, saw this movie in german (with english subtitles), and what I will come to is about the german language. So maybe I should write this whole column in german?

Aaah, no, it might be read by more people in english, and hopefully my german readers will understand enough english to get my point.

First, this movie is just great, a feel-good movie with wonderful characters, very loveable, and very funny details (like the tough threesome, these leatherboys only look tough, they are really sitting at home eating chips and get scared when at night thunder and lightning come, haha).

Now to my problem: the casting.

This movie is put into rural Westfalen, south of Dortmund. The leading character Ecki has to travel long overland in a bus, then changing into a train, to get to the big city Dortmund, where his older sister is working as a nurse. The name Boldrup (his hometown) is made up, I checked that. But in a detail you will see that when the radio reporter comes to the big game in the end, he is reporting for "Ennepe Radio" (or so), and Ennepe is existing. That's how I know where they are, south of Dortmund.

Now: how come that several actors speak EAST GERMAN prussian???
In other words: they reveal they are really from Berlin, you can tell by their pronounciation.

Well, with some characters this would not have mattered. For example, the male nurse Sven (who Ecki falls in love with), he could have been from Berlin and have moved to Dortmund. This could have been mentioned in one line to be explained. But this is not explained. But ok, it could still be possible, since Sven's character is not shown as from local Westfalen.

BUT THE OTHERS ARE.

Ecki comes from Boldrup, the made-up village in the really-existing Ennepe area south of Dortmund. His Father is a baker, and in one conversation it is said that already Ecki's Grandfather was working for 50 years in this very same family's bakery. So you can assume this family is rooted there, they did not move there after 1989, when The Wall came down.

Now, Ecki's Mother speaks high german, but in one or two scenes you can hear she has at least lived long time in Berlin. You can hear it.
This could still be explained like, she married into this Westfalian baker's family. Ok.

But how come that Ecki's older sister is from East Germany???? THAT IS MY PROBLEM HERE.

While you can make up some weird explanations why Ecki's Mother speaks Berlin, and his new boyfriend speaks Berlin, there is no logical explanation why his older sister grew up with him and their family in rural Ennepe area and then ends up speaking Berlin. She moved to Dortmund, not Berlin!

For those who have no idea what I am talking about: imagine a rural family in Virginia, and their oldest daughter moves from their local village to the big city, to Richmond. But when her brother visits her there, she doesn't speak like Richmond people speak, instead she speaks like somebody from Queens or Long Island. This is exactly what happened here!

So, let's not pretend there is a hair-splitting explanation why some characters grew up in the rural west and speak like Berlin (in the east). There is no explanation, the fault was made in the casting. They hired eastern actors, that's all there's to it. That is the explanation.

While professional actors learn how to speak high german and not to reveal where they grew up, nowadays actors are not learning their profession anymore. Private TV producers like RTL, Sat 1 etc give a damn about details like that, they hire good-looking people found in the local malls and give them jobs in their cheaply-made TV-soaps.
This is such a shame to all real actors who have spent years to learn how to sit right, how to walk right, how to speak, how to breath etc.

The few professionals in this movie are NOT revealing where they are from. Rolf Zacher, Mariele Millowitsch, Dietmar Baer and that actor playing Udo (the homophobic dumb-ass) are not at all giving away where they once grew up. You cannot tell by their German. They are pros, obviously.

But all these goodlooking young talents, they try to speak high german, but their prussian pronounciation gives it away.

Now you may say this is just a detail, yes, but a disturbing detail. Go back to my example with rural girl from Virginia moving to Richmond and then speaking New York slang. THAT would anger you too, woudn't it???

Oh yeah, that cute 8-year-old son of one of the leather-threesome: he also is from the East. He is really cute, and there is nothing wrong with his acting. But why pretend he is from Dortmund when he comes from Berlin?

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Its interesting that you mention this. I have a friend from England, which is the size of Louisiana by the way, and he talks about the difference between all the different accents and how you can tell what city someone is from over there or what part of london they are from. Over in the US, we have different accents, but I dont think anybody really notices or cares. I'm not sure if they are as varied as they are in Germany or the UK because our short history has not allowed for as much development.

In short, I understand your complaint, but I think it is one that most Americans are not going to understand.

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Thats one good thing about the Australian accent. Its the same everywhere, unless you are a bogan and actually do speak the way 90% of the rest of the world thinks that we talk (yes I realise that sentence was very poorly strung together.) But what really annoys me is when people confuse our accent with another countries accent. One of my friends went to America a few years ago and people were asking her if she was English. NO.

Anyway, about the accent in Balls, ONLY people from Germany who have lived there their entire lives will recognise this, not even people who speak fluent german from other countries would be able to pick this up.

Seriously I think this movie was Superbly cast. Ecki is especially adorable. I don't think there is a thing wrong with this movie.

Thats all, and have a nice day.

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You say ONLY people from germany will recognize it. Well the movie was made in germany, for germans. So I think their opinion is hugely important. And I say this as an American.

I did love this movie and think the casting was great, but of course I'm American and could not tell the difference between accents.

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I can't understand your point
we are dealing with film and actors
you could expect them to talk with exact
accent.

my problem is that
transalation is not exact

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Hi Gidi, I am not quite sure to whom you replied. Unfortunately I cannot see it even with "nest" installed. So I am assuming you meant me, the OP.

I am also not too sure what your point exactly is:
(QUOTE) "we are dealing with film and actors you could expect them to talk with exact accent." (QUOTE END)

Now, THIS was exactly my complaint. These actors are expected to talk with exact accent, but in this movie they speak with the wrong accent. That was my whole point!!!


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This is a wonderful post and it makes me want to watch the film all over again to see if I can detect the differences in accent (probably not - my German is nicht so gut). This would drive me crazy in an American film, and your examples are very helpful.

How does Christian Berkel do? You don't mention him as one of the professionals, but I would expect him to be in that group. And he is from Berlin - can you tell this from his accent?

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Hi, it feels very good to read your reply, as I get the impression you have understood my point.

Actually, Christian Berkel is one of those pros who are not giving away where they grew up. (I read Berlin in his Bio, but you cannot hear that in his movies!!!) I probably was so annoyed 3 years ago when I saw this movie and wrote this post, that I forgot to mention him.

I have seen him often in all kinds of various movies of various genres, and I always enjoy watching him.

A tip from me: Soundless (Original title "Lautlos", german thriller about a hitman, Berkel is a cop hunting that hitman), both Netflix and Blockbuster.com have it for rent! If you watch it, let me know what you thought of that!

I also saw him recently in a danish movie about danish resistance against Nazis (with Mads Mikkelsen in the lead, titled Flammen & Citronen), where he played an SS officer, and I liked his performance there as well. I didn't like the movie though, I found it a bit frustrating. But it was a true story I think, so I can't blame anyone for the fact that I didn't like the plot.

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