SPUTNIK

LEARNING RESOURCE

Germany 2013, 90 mins, German with English subtitles, director Markus Dietrich..

This Learning Resource was produced by Goethe-Institut Glasgow.

Education support pack:Information & classroom activities

SPUTNIKGermany 2013, 90 mins, German with English subtitles, director Markus Dietrich.

DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: MARKUS DIETRICH

Director and screenwriter Markus Dietrich was born on the 26th of July 1979 in Strausberg, near Berlin. His first feature film SPUTNIK is based on his own childhood memories. Like Friederike, he was 10 years old when the Berlin Wall came down. Similar to the protagonist, he came home from school one day and found that his aunt had moved to the West. As a consequence, Dietrich, a huge space fan himself, decided to develop a teleportation machine in order to bring back his aunt. The trial run, however, ended in a big bang. Just after the fall of the wall, Markus Dietrich and his mother travelled to the West and met his aunt again.

CHARACTERS IN THE FILM

Friederike Bode (Flora Li Thiemann) Rike is the 10 year-old protagonist who is very enthusiastic about space.

Fabian Schwartze (Finn Fiebig)

Jonathan Rheinhardt (Luca Johannsen) Fabian and Jonathan are Friederike’s friends. Together, the three children are working on a teleportation machine.

Abschnittsbevollmächtigter Mauder (Devid Striesow) ABV Mauder is the police officer in the village. He likes to enforce law and order and especially keeps an eye on Rike and her friends.

Katharina Bode (Yvonne Catterfeld)

Torsten Bode (Maxim Mehmet) Frau and Herr Bode are Rike’s parents. They are the owners of the local guesthouse and dream of moving to West Germany.

Onkel Mike (Jacob Matschenz) Rike’s Onkel Mike is fascinated by space and has passed on his love for the subject to his niece. He is a role model for Rike.

Herr Karl (Andreas Schmidt) Herr Karl keeps a small co-operative shop in Malkow and supports the children’s plan of constructing a teleportation machine.

WHAT THE FILM IS ABOUT?

Malkow, a small East German village on November 9, 1989, the day the Berlin wall came down. For ten-year-old Friederike, October 1989 gets off to a disastrous start: her beloved Uncle Mike has successfully applied to emigrate to West Germany but then has to leave the country within 48 hours. Inspired by her big cosmonaut idols, Friederike and her friends Jonathan (10) and Fabian (10) construct a teleportation machine to “beam” herself to West Berlin in order to bring back uncle Mike. However, the experiment goes horribly wrong and, accidentally, all the villagers are beamed into the West instead. In order to undo the experiment, the children have to start a race against time and outwit the very unpleasant local policeman.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION & TASKS

The film SPUTNIK is set in a small village in the German Democratic Republic in 1989, only a few days before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

INFOBOX 1: 40 YEARS OF DIVISION OF GERMANY

As a result of the end of the Second World War in 1945, the then German territory was divided between the four Allies: France, Great Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union and became four ‘occupation zones’. France, Great Britain and the USA worked together to help establish the Federal Republic of Germany (FRD, or BRD in German) in 1949. Shortly afterwards, on 7 October 1949, the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR or DDR in German), usually referred to in English as East Germany.

TASK 1: WORKING WITH MAPS: Look at the map of Germany between 1949 and 1990.

Which of the two states is the ‘BRD’?Which is the ‘DDR’?Colour each of them in a different colour.

There are five black points in the map. Try to guess where these five German cities were located:

München - Berlin – Köln – Hamburg – Dresden

Work with a partner and compare your results. Discuss size, location, neighbouring countries etc. of the two German states.

INFO BOX 2: THE DIVISION OF GERMANY AND THE COLD WAR

The period between the end of the Second World War and the fall of the Berlin Wall was marked by great tensions between the world powers in the West (USA and Western Allies) and the East (the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact states). As West Germany and East Germany allied themselves with opposing sides political hostility arose between the two countries. While the government in West Germany believed their political system to be the best way to develop a new Germany, the East German government believed its system to be the only way to build an alternative to former Nazi Germany.

TASK 2: THE POLITICAL SYSTEMS IN THE ‘BRD’ (WEST GERMANY) AND THE ‘DDR’ (EAST GERMANY)

Do some research on the differences between the ‘BRD’ and the ‘DDR’.

1. Go to the website http://kids.britannica.com. Look up the two terms socialism and communism.

2. Discuss with your partner: Why did the two German states grow apart after the Second World War?

TASK 3: THE COLD WAR IN A NUTSHELL

Have a look at the statements below. Tick the box next to the statement that you think correctly describes the cold war?

The Cold War was a period of tension between

the superpowers in the Southern Bloc and those

in the North. These tensions were mainly based

on the huge differences in the wealth of the

countries. In 1965, these tensions led to another

war in central Europe.

STATEMENT 1:

The Cold War was a period of tension between

the superpowers in the Western Bloc and those

in the East. These tensions were mainly based on

the differences in the countries’ ideologies. Even

though there was never a real war, the Cold War

led to much hostility and mistrust.

STATEMENT 2:

Tick

Tick

INFO BOX 3: THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

In the late 1980s, the ‘DDR’ became increasingly ungovernable. In the autumn of 1989, people all over the ‘DDR’ demonstrated peacefully against the existing socialist government. The protesters wanted more freedom and the possibility to travel to the West whenever they wanted. On the 9th November 1989, ‘DDR’ government thus decided to allow free travel to West Germany and opened the wall. Günther Schabowski stated in a TV interview that this new policy would come into immediate effect. Following this, hundreds of citizens from both West Germany and East Germany left their homes to go to the Wall in order to celebrate the new freedom.

TASK 4: THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

Look at the picture below. 1. Describe the atmosphere of the picture. What do you think these people felt? What do you think these people thought?2. Look at the speech bubbles below. Which of these speech bubbles describe what people in the picture thought? Tick at least one!

“Das ist unglaublich!” (This is incredible!)

“Das ist doof. Ich bin müde.” (This is stupid. I am tired.)

“Das macht so viel Spaß!” (This is so much fun!)

“Die Mauer ist weg!” (The Wall has gone!)

BEFORE WATCHING THE FILM

TASK 5: LOOK AT THE POSTER FOR THE FILM. IN GROUPS DISCUSS AND DECIDE:

What topics will be addressed in SPUTNIK? Name at least three.Where and when do you think this film is set?What can be assumed about the characters appearing in SPUTNIK?

TASK 6: WHAT COMES TO MIND WHEN YOU READ THE FOLLOWING KEY WORDS? TAKE NOTES.

The Berlin WallEast-GermanyReunification

INFO BOX: SPUTNIK – DID YOU KNOW?

Sputnik 1 is the name of the first satellite that was ever sent to space. It was designed by scientists from the former Soviet Union, who successfully launched the Satellite Sputnik 1 into orbit in 1957. The launch of Sputnik 1 was the beginning of a long-fought race between the Soviet Union and the USA over supremacy in space exploration.

TASK 7: CHARACTERS’ SPIDER’S WEB

a: Draw a Spinnennetz (German for spider’s web) on how Rike is related to the other characters. Draw an arrow and use the words in the box below to say how each character is related to Rike. Use your dictionary to look up words which you do not know!

Vater Freund Mutter Freund Onkel Feind

b: After drawing the ‘Spinnennetz’, write one sentence for each character. Remember to use the genetive -s!

Example: Mike ist Rikes Onkel1

2

3

4

5

6

AFTER SEEING THE FILM

TASK 8: PERSONS-CLOZE - FILL IN THE BLANKS IN THE TEXTS WITH THE WORDS BELOW.

Hallo, ich bin Friederike Bode, aber alle nennen mich ….................................. . Ich bin zehn

Jahre alt und wohne in Malkow, einem …................ in der DDR. Mein Hobby ist die …................

..................... . Meine …....................... sind Fabian und Jonathan. Wir bauen einen Teleporter.

Ich heiße Mike und ich bin Friederikes ….......................... . Ich verlasse die ….............. und

gehe in den …................................ .

Guten Tag, mein Name ist Mauder und ich bin der …..................................des Dorfes. Mein

Haustier ist ein …................................. . Es heißt …........................

DDR Raumfahrt Freunde Polizist Rike Onkel Erich Dorf Westen Kanichen

TASK 9: RIKE’S VILLAGE

Rike lives in a small village in East Germany. What can you find in Rike’s village?

Write down three things that can be found in her village

Use the words in the word box for help. But be careful! Not everything in the word box can also be found in Rike’s village!

eine Polizeistation – a police stationeine Feuerwehr – a fire brigadeeinen Lebensmittelladen – a grocery storeein Hotel – a hoteleinen Gasthof – a guesthouseein Rathaus – a town hallein Karussell – a carousel

Example: In Rikes Dorf gibt es eine Polizeistation.1

2

3

4

AFTER SEEING THE FILM: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

TASK 10: THINK BACK TO WHAT YOU HEARD AND SAW DURING THE FILM SCREENING:Why did people want to leave East Germany? Write down the reasons for each character, why he or she wants to leave the GDR.

Fabian:

Rike’s mother:

Rike states that she does not want to go to West Germany. Why do you think she feels that way?

UNDERSTANDING FILM

TASK 11: There are lots of different types of film: action films, adventure films, comedies, documentaries, thrillers, romances, historical dramas and so on. What type of film do you think SPUTNIK is? Why? Have you seen other films or read books of that genre? What were the titles?

TASK 12: SYMBOLS AND MOOD

Symbols: There are several objects in the film which have a special importance for certain individuals. These objects can be called ‘symbols’. Discuss the meaning of the following symbol in small groups.Rike’s small fabric rocket:- When does the small rocket first appear?- Why is it important to Rike?- How does Rike feel when police officer Mauder puts her rocket on the counter at the guesthouse?

Mood: There are several aspects like colours and music that contribute to a certain mood in a film. Think back to the scenes - when the children realize that, after their experiment, all the villagers are gone. - when the Berlin wall opened.How do the colours and the music contribute to the mood change between those two scenes?

PUTTING IT IN A NUTSHELL

TASK 13: RIKE’S LOGBOOKRike is fascinated by astronautics. You can sense this when listening to her logbook entries, for example. Now imagine you are Rike, writing a logbook entry about the outcome of her experiment and the events that happened in the village. How did you perceive these events? What were your feelings?

“Logbook, First Officer Friederike Bode. A lot of dramatic events have happened lately…”