User Reviews

"Crossing Fences" is, despite the title, a German German-language live action short film from 2017, so not too new, not too old. It is the most recent filmmaking effort by Annika Pampel, who is writer and director here. Her main profession is actress though, but this time you do not see her in front of the camera. Interestingly enough, she has worked mostly in American productions playing supporting characters. The same is true about lead actress Nina Rausch, probably even to a bigger extent. She has been in many famous American shows over the years. And she is a producer here too. The two women's back ground may explain why there is an English title and also why the cast is fairly international, most of all in terms of Philippe Brenninkmeyer. There was little ambition here when it came to the German market, even if it is a German production. The latter probably also has to do with the central characters' nationalities. They are East German and try to leave the country. This is set in the 1970s. Will they succeed? I must say I did not care as much as I hoped I would. And the captain who really helps the two a lot by pretending there is a technical issue with the audio transmission when there clearly is not and who helps them also when another officer is opposed was definitely a bit on the pretentious side and too much of a good human in this situation. But maybe that is just my taste. The exaggerated wedding proposal reference and potential pregnancy mention (or "pregnancy") did not help matters either. The soundtrack was over the top too here and there, especially at the end. Apparently, this film is based on actual characters and we get to read a lot about these at the very start and the end, probably too much given the running time, and then we find out the actual people's story was entirely different. Hm is there any sense then to using their names? I am not buying it. I was kinda glad that this film ran for 14 minutes only, slightly under even, and not for 17 as it says here on imdb. I don't know, maybe they released different versions for the different festivals where this was shown. Or it has to do with the closing credits. Overall, not a convincing watch for me and I cannot agree with the awards recognition and the high rating here on imdb. If you want to decide for yourself, the lead actress uploaded the film on vimeo. With subs for non-German audiences. Another example of how this is not as much of a German film as you could think it is. My suggestion, however, is to skip this one. Thumbs-down.