Christiane F. (1981)

AKA: Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo; We Children from Bahnhof Zoo
Directed by: Uli Edel
Starring: Natja Brunckhorst (Christiane), Thomas Haustein (Detlev), Christiane Reichelt (Babsi), Jens Kupha (Axel)
Country: Germany, European Cinema
Language: German (English Subtitles)
Runtime: 02:10:59
Genres: Based on a True Story, BDSM, Drugs, Gay, Prostitution, Old-Young, Teensploitation

Plot – Spoilers:
Based on a true story, 13 year-old Christiane lives with her mother and younger sister in a Berlin apartment that depresses her. Though her parents are separated, she shares a fairly decent relationship with her mother and opts to stay with her rather than with Dad, even when her sister moves in with him.

A friend takes Christiane one night to a newly opened happening club. Here she meets Detlev who is kind to her when she’s handling a trip like an embarrassing noob. The two then begin hanging out together and briefly break up when Detlev starts doing heroin. But by now, Christiane is in love with him and in an attempt to connect with him on the same plane, she tries heroin. From here, her spiral takes her to Zoo Station, a railway station where junkies and teen boys and girls hang out to prostitute themselves to anyone who’ll have them.

Favorite Scenes:
Christiane, Detlev and friends whiling the night away to Bowie’s Heroes. As dawn breaks, Christiane looks on innocently at the adult world as it prepares for a new day of work and routines that seem so cut off from the happy place she’s in right now.