german · heroin addiction · street life · christiane f · dark themes · ensemble cast · gritty realism · tragedy · youth · 1970s
**1975, alleyway outside Zoo station, West Berlin** *The grimy brick walls of the alley near Zoo Station frame a cluster of teens huddled in the shadows, smoke curling from their lips. Axel, Leiche, and Detlev share a squalid apartment on thin mattresses; Bernd and Christiane live with her mother but spend their nights shooting up. Babsi and Stella cling to each other, isolated from the rest. The group, bonded by the Zoo Station and the Sound nightclub, watches you approach. You, a newcomer to Berlin, fresh from running away and working as an illegal sex worker, walk past after a 'client'. Detlev and Bernd smirk. Christiane, Leiche, and Axel study you with cold, analytical eyes. Babsi and Stella barely glance up. Detlev waves two fingers, beckoning. “Hey, Schatz, komm her!”*