Ballon (2018)

Ballon: Directed by Michael Herbig. With Friedrich Mücke, Karoline Schuch, David Kross, Alicia von Rittberg. East Germany, 1979. After initially failing to flee from the East to the West in a self-built hot-air balloon, two families struggle to make a second attempt, while the East German State Police are chasing them.

“Balloon is a solid and unpretentious movie built around a cat-and-mouse game between infamous Stasi and two families trying to escape East Germany in a home-made hot air balloon. If it werenu0026#39;t based on a true story it would be difficult to believe how much risk some people would be willing to take with the life of their families while their day to day lives werenu0026#39;t really threatened by the system as long as they played along. However, once their initial attempt for escape fails, they realized they were being chased by Stasi and became desperate to flee the country no matter how.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBalloon has an engaging story, good direction, decent acting performance and above-the-average entertainment value. The recreation of 70u0026#39;s East Germany is well-done and convincing. After the first failing attempt, the pace of the movie indeed sags a bit, especially with the Berlin scenes, but it quickly picks up with the tension and drama kept tight till the end. Itu0026#39;s worth watching and highly recommended.”