A woman escapes East Germany with her child.Starring Jordis Triebel, Tristan Gobel and Alexander Scheer.Written by Heide Schwochow (screenplay) and Julia Franck (Novel).Directed by Christian Schwochow.I seem to be on a bit of a run of late for watching foreign subtitled films.This German movie is left of centre, quirky and quite well acted. It's also a good insight into how things were on either side of the Berlin wall post war. It just about kept my interest although it lacks a little excitement. There's not a lot of suspense and it didn't exactly have me on the edge of my seat.It's interesting but easily forgettable. Not exactly a yawn fest but lacked any real entertainment value.7/10

I am of such a age that i saw the cold war espionage thriller The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and as i remember it a BAFTA winning film with Richard Burton from 1966 when that film first came out and the nuclear cloud of the cold war was very much alive. Back then i doubt if i thought the two Germany's would ever be united again. I went to see West expecting a modern update drama full of dubious espionage the film wrong footed me so successfully that it must of been 85% through its running time before the penny dropped on me that i was watching a socially conscious movie examining the personal pain of Germany's enforced post World War 2 split. I really liked this movie which was slow and careful, superbly acted and written and directed with a studied coldness, i also thought it explained itself very well with modest little history lessons that never seemed to preach or to lecture. In short a rewarding alternative to my normal diet of factory Hollywood.

In one respect of course this is yet another aspect of The Lives Of Others with a nod to Goodbye, Lenin but after all that it is another fine effort from German cinema. Once you get past the major problems - how is Nelly supporting herself and her son in the West. Towards the very end she announces to her son that she has finally landed a job - she is coy about what KIND of job, how much it pays, indeed ANYTHING - but prior to that she has managed to change outfits several times and outfits that appear to be expensive, and feed both herself and her son to say nothing of paying the rent> Like I said, get beyond this and we're talking half-decent movie and whilst it doesn't hurt one little bit that the lead actress has a strong resemblance to Ingrid Bergman neither does she need to rely on looks to get by. All in all a decent film with a great leading performance and strong supporting roles.

When I watched this film, it was titled "Westen" (The West), but it looks like they're going with "Lagerfeuer" (Campfire) now. Anyway, based on a novel this movie was written by Heide Schwochnow and directed by her son Christian, a true family project not too common in the world of modern movie-making. For those two, it's already their fourth project together.Jördis Triebel won the German Film Award for Best Lead Actress here and while I liked her performance, I have to say I thought Juliane Köhler would have been my choice. My favorite performance in "Lagerfeuer" comes from Alexander Scheer who some of you might know from "Sonnenallee". He plays the love interest to Triebel's character here and so does Jacky Ido ("Inglourious Basterds"), who to some extent represents the main character's arrival in the west. Scheer on the other hand, stands for her roots in the East. There is no real solution which path Triebel's character chooses, although a lot links to Scheer.All in all, it's an okay movie, doing justice to the whole GDR topic including an interesting part about all the different stamps you need to become a FRG citizen, but also bringing nothing really new to a table that has been laid uncountable times. Tristan Göbel shows that he is one of the more talented child actors Germany currently has and his character included some interesting references such as his scarf or the way school looked like back then in general. What I also liked about the movie is that there is no solution too the boy's father's disappearance. It's just not all black and white.Finally, I think the film is worth a watch for those who are interested in the whole East/West Germany conflict or just like movies centered around strong female characters. All others can skip.