Schtonk! (1992)

  • 6
  • 03/12/1992 (DE)
  • Comedy, History
  • 1h 55m

One of the first funny german look at its past.

Overview

Schtonk! is a farce of the actual events of 1983, when Germany's Stern magazine published, with great fanfare, 60 volumes of the alleged diaries of Adolf Hitler – which two weeks later turned out to be entirely fake. Fritz Knobel (based on real-life forger Konrad Kujau) supports himself by faking and selling Nazi memorabilia. When Knobel writes and sells a volume of Hitler's (nonexistent) diaries, he thinks it's just another job. When sleazy journalist Hermann Willié learns of the diaries, however, he quickly realizes their potential value... and Knobel is quickly in over his head. As the pressure builds and Knobel is forced to deliver more and more volumes of the fake diaries, he finds himself acting increasingly like the man whose life he is rewriting. The film is a romping and hilarious satire, poking fun not only at the events and characters involved in the hoax (who are only thinly disguised in the film), but at the discomfort Germany has with its difficult past.

Helmut Dietl

Director, Screenplay

Ulrich Limmer

Screenplay

Cast

Götz George's headshot

Götz George

Hermann Willié
Uwe Ochsenknecht's headshot

Uwe Ochsenknecht

Fritz Knobel
Christiane Hörbiger's headshot

Christiane Hörbiger

Freya von Hepp
Harald Juhnke's headshot

Harald Juhnke

Pit Kummer
Ulrich Mühe's headshot

Ulrich Mühe

Dr. Wieland
Rolf Hoppe's headshot

Rolf Hoppe

Karl Lentz
Dagmar Manzel's headshot

Dagmar Manzel

Biggi
Veronica Ferres's headshot

Veronica Ferres

Martha

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