Product Details

• Actors: Alexander Granach, Fritz Kampers, Ernst Busch, Elisabeth Wendt, Gustav Püttjer
• Format: NTSC
• Language: French, German
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home E
• VHS Release Date: March 28, 1991
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300149684
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,148 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "We are all brothers . . .", November 19, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kameradschaft [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This fascinating German/French production is based on a true story when German miners came to the rescue of French miners after an explosion in 1906 (1,200 miners were killed). It's filmed from the point of view of German socialism, but greater than its political message (the title means "comradeship") is the craftsmanship of the picture itself: the realism of the dark, dusty mineshaft and the people who work in them are magnificently portrayed. The photography is brilliant.

To get to the trapped French miners, the Germans must break down a gate constructed by the French deep underground marking the boundary between the two countries. Later, after the French and German miners have declared a friendship for each other ("we are all miners"), the French officials rebuild the gate. The irony and sadness of that act is clear - perhaps even more for us today now that the Berlin Wall has come down. Pabst is honest in his hope for a peaceful future. It's a great movie - a technical masterpiece.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underground Cinema, December 11, 2006

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kameradschaft [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It's the old story about miners without borders, but played with a subtle understatement and eventually a heroic balls to the wall "breaking free" charge that produces real exhilaration. When you're watching it, see if you can turn off the subtitles for otherwise how will you appreciate the film's extraordinary verbal textures, with half of the characters speaking French, the other German, sort of an aural metaphor for the Tower of Babel theme Pabst sets up early on. It's almost as though the masters have dictated that none of us speak the other guy's language, for if we did, we'd realize solidarity and overthrow the big boys.

Speaking of big boys, Pabst provides acres of kameradschaft in more ways than one in the famous underground shower scene, about half an hour into the movie for all you pervs who want to skip right to the "good parts." This extended scene sets up the "I am Spartacus" scene in which one by one, the German miners who hear about their French counterparts' trouble break ranks and try to help their fellow man. What's astonishing for the period is that they do so naked. What a way to stage a debate, the German actors stripped down to nothing and scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing and debating as streams of glistening water carve their bodies into moving statuary. Though the actors' genitals are carefully tucked away from the camera's eye, and we're talking dozens of them, all else is animated, alluring and vigorous. I wonder if Busby Berkeley saw this film and stole some of Pabst's peekaboo camerawork. Anyway if you're bored with your Dieux de Stade tapes and want a little political commitment (and a storyline) go for KAMERADSCHAFT.

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressive early sound film., October 1, 2010

By 

Dymon Enlow "Dymon Enlow" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kameradschaft [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Even though this German/French production is loosely based on the famous 1906 Courrieres mine disaster in which 1,099 miners died, the film also reminded me a lot of Emile Zola's masterpiece "Germinal" which I've read countless times. I cannot recommend that novel enough. It changed my life.

The large mine in this film is divided by the border of Germany and France. They even have a brick wall underneath to mark the divide. Early one morning there's a massive explosion on the French side and an unknown number of miners are trapped or dying down in the rubble. After hearing this news the German miners ignore all political and national differences and race across the border to help their fallen brothers. Some of the miners that are already in the pit on the German side break through the border wall to go help with the rescue efforts.

The peace and love message of the film might be overly simplistic, but the technical aspect of this early sound film is very impressive. Especially the realism of the explosion and the misery the survivors went through. I don't know how Pabst managed to get such realistic footage, but I would love to find out. Criterion should release a remastered Blu-Ray with an special feature on how this film was made. Was this movie all filmed on sets or did they actually film it in a mine?

If you can find a copy I recommended it, but still this film pales in comparison to Claude Berri's 1993 adaptation of "Germinal".