Good start, but then it gets ruined

Did you people see the same film I saw?

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I'm write for the first time, because this movie took me to the guts, is so powerful to show how the Human race are bad...I'm live in Switzerland, and in the 70'S same thing happens in my countries... So many young are suffer of child abuse, free violence and death, it is reality, not just a movie... The Switzerland state has apologized for what it is to pass in the 70s only in 2015, and yet enormously young people who have passed through these camps are still today marked in blood...I'm shocked to read the comment of Thomas in this tread, so naive and non-constructive, I thought this poor guy have never see the reality of the world we live... For a German guy it is a crook... I have finally to say, Hitler has better treat his Hitlerian youth than the German government did after the war, it is sad...Do not listen to the negative comments or say that it is exaggerating, they have not understood anything in life... look without hesitation this Powerful movie but hard and realistic on a part of the German history which they should not be proud of...

This is an awesome and touching movie overall. The description at the beginning and end of the movie makes it more clear about how such kind of juvenile schools existed throughout the past half century in west Germany. As for the plot, I do think there are some tiny flaws such as Wolfgang's black pal traded cookies and cigarettes with him for protection, however it doesn't make much sense in the rest of the movie. And the whole film is ironic---People who fight for FREEDOM at the beginning are looked on coldly by others and failed, and other people who look coldly upon those freedom fighters achieved their own freedom in the end.

I only live a few miles away from Freistatt, Germany, and at least regionally the movie got some attention. "Freistatt" deals with a topic that is not often dealt with in movies, chose original locations for filming and lists some very able actors (Max Riemelt, Alexander Held) in its cast.There is no fluff or filler in this movie, no boredom coming up. But while it is a good "time piece" in the sense that it gives you a good idea what it was like in that particular time and situation, there is no plot that is strong enough to really hold the movie together.Ultimately, I would only recommend it to those who are curious about or have any connection to those failures of the education system that existed for way too long.

I saw this movie in a preview for teachers. It deals with a borstal in West Germany the late 1960ies. And basically every crass image that this subject might evoke from you, it's in this movie. Plus a few more. The protagonist, Wolfgang, is sent there because his mother has a new husband and wants him out of the way. Of course, the home is like a gulag, and Wolfgang is tortured every which way. After he is beaten up on his arrival by the bigger boys, another boy, Anton, offers him cookies for protection. Why? It doesn't work the other way round! Later, Anton steals a photograph of Wolfgang's mother and very publicly jacks off to it. Why, oh why? Who does that? A bit later, Wolfgang has an erotic dream about his own mother. What the? What's going on here? The boys are beaten, forced to do hard labour in the swamp, and starved. The sun never shines. One of the boys has a homosexual relationship with one of the minders. The headmaster constantly rides around on his horse as if he was one of the Southron slavekeepers in Django Unchained (the rest of the time he's pruning his vegetables like Hannibal Lecter on furlough). Then, when all hope is lost, another cliché arrives: The foxy headmaster's daughter. In another attempt to crassen up ("to crassen up" = "to make even more crass in order to compensate for storytelling") the plot, Wolfgang eventually almost rapes her.This is essentially an exploitation movie, without the fun.