It's 1990, and with the decline of socialism, the German Democratic Republic is slowly coming to an end. And with the nation's gradual demise, it's currency (the Ostmark) is swapped for the Deutschmark, plus state-owned companies simply go out of business, leaving large junks of the populace out of work. Nobody kinow what's to happen next, but only the fewest of the East Germans are prepared for capitalism. But then Maren (Sandra Hüller), her husband Robert (Max Riemelt) and their best friend Volker (Ronald Zehrfeld) learn about a secret money depot where millions of Ostmarks are storeduntil it's decided how to get rid of them. They persuade one of the guardsmen of the depot, Makke (Peter Karth) to grant them access to the place to take as much money as they can carry - after all, it isn't really stealing if you take something that's deemed to be destroyed, now is it? Thing is, the money's to be actually rendered worthless in a mere three days, so they have to spend it all now, but somebody with too much money might attract the attention of the aurhotites - after all, one wasn't supposed to be rich in East Germany. So with the help of their neighbours, Maren, Robert and Volker develop a system to buy as much as they can for the good of all - something that mostly creates greed inside the community. Another scheme of theirs is to kidnap ambassodors to force them to launder their money - a job ambassadors who are to be out of a job soon are all too happy to carry out for a cut. Ultimately though, Maren, Robert and Volker want to do something good for all their community - but that's easier said than done, especially with stolen money ...

Now I guess to properly enjoy this movie it helps to have a certain idea about the historic background of the fall of Communism and how it affected (and to agree still affects the East German populace - because in much of its satire, Two to One is just spot-on, thanks to very clever writing. That said, even without the historic context, this movie lands many jokes right and keeps things at a steady pace to never hit a boring moment, also thanks to a cast clearly in on the joke but playing it straight and thus relatable. And all of this adds up to a really cool piece of intelligent entertainment.

Two to One will be released to UK cinemas on May 2nd 2025 as part of Tull Stories' Joy of Cinema strand.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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