WATCH YOUR FAVORITE
MOVIES & TV SERIES ONLINE
TRY FREE TRIAL
Home > Drama >

Stopped on Track

Watch Stopped on Track For Free

Stopped on Track

Frank and Simone have fulfilled a dream and live with their two children in a row house in the suburbs. They are a happy couple, until the day Frank is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. The family is suddenly confronted with death.

... more
Release : 2011
Rating : 7.6
Studio : Peter Rommel Productions,  Rommel Film,  ARTE, 
Crew : Cinematography,  Director, 
Cast : Steffi Kühnert Milan Peschel Talisa Lilly Lemke Mika Seidel Ursula Werner
Genre : Drama

Cast List

Reviews

SunnyHello
2018/08/30

Nice effects though.

More
RipDelight
2018/08/30

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

More
Ariella Broughton
2018/08/30

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

More
Juana
2018/08/30

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

More
Horst in Translation ([email protected])
2016/04/27

"Halt auf freier Strecke" or "Stopped on Track" is a German 105-minute movie from 5 years ago. And it was the big moment in the spotlight for Andreas Dresen, Milan Peschel and Otto Mellies. All three won German Film Awards for their work here. Writer and director Dresen is one of the most successful filmmakers from the former GDR. Peschel has worked in film for a long time, frequently as supporting actor to Schweighöfer. Mellies was roughly 80, in the final years of his life and career probably, when he made this one and it was (according to IMDb) the first award he ever won. And the film itself also won the Lola for Best German Film of the Year. Everybody involved with this one was probably a bit disappointed that the movie was not picked to represent Germany at the Oscars back then.But now let us talk a bit about the story. The film begins with a couple in their 40s talking to a doctor when they are informed that the husband has terminal brain cancer. They only went there because he had some apparently not so serious headaches. This shows how things can entirely change from one day to the next. Live your life to the fullest, you have no idea how much time you have left. The rest of the movie is about the medical treatment he receives, the way he deals with his family and his family deals with him and his declining health until he dies in the final scene. It is certainly a fairly depressing watch from start to finish. Comedy is basically non-existent and you also have to be very attentive, so you won't miss any of the very few somewhat positive and uplifting moments.As a whole, it was a realistic depiction of dying I believe and Dresen also did a good job with everybody else except the main character. The same story in reality where it certainly happens a lot too in a similar manner may not have looked much different. Still, sometimes I felt that the film still could have delivered a bit more on the emotional side, occasionally i found it a bit sterile for the subject, but I guess Dresen did not want to become it too much of a tearjerker and that's perfectly fine too. And there were also a handful scenes I did not like and that I could have done without, for example the early scene when the protagonist talks to a little machine about how he is supposed to tell his children about his illness. That was when Dresen overshot the mark, but I can forgive him because the positive moments easily outweighed the good. I also believe that despite the bleakness this film is an example which will have a much bigger (emotional) impact when watched on the big instead of the small screen. It may be very difficult to catch this film at a theater because of the time passed, but if you get the chance, then don't miss out on it. I highly recommend "Halt auf freier Strecke", even if the second half was inferior to the first and the song during the closing credits was also a weak choice.

More
partnerfrance
2012/04/10

There have been many films about people dying of cancer (hardy a spoiler, this is made clear in the first five minutes of the film) but almost all of them have been Hollywood-style syrupy tearjerkers ("Love Story", anyone?). At last, here is a film that takes you through the genuine emotional roller-coaster of being, or being close to, someone who learns he is condemned, from the moment of discovery to the inevitable denouement. Avoiding the trap of over-sentimentalizing the subject yet steering away from a documentary "reality show" type approach, adding just enough humor (most of it on the part of the victim himself) to keep the viewer from despair yet never wavering from realism, this is a sober yet gut-wrenching film that will stay on your mind long after you leave the movie theater.

More
JvH48
2011/10/23

I saw this film as part of the Ghent filmfestival 2011, in the same week that I saw "50/50" (Levine; 2011) with a similar theme. Both portrayed how relatives and friends try to cope with the announcement of an immanent death after a tumor diagnosis. It is particularly interesting to see how some evade the issue, and others rise to the challenge. For most people it is already difficult enough to properly behave after someone has died, even knowing we have established rituals for that. Being diagnosed with cancer is different in many ways, and we have no recipes ready.Both films succeed very well in showing how friends and relatives initially react, and how good or bad they find their way later on in dealing with the issues at hand. In many other respects, the two films are very different. The chances for survival, for example, are 50/50 within the film of that name, contrary to the brain tumor diagnosed in Stopped On Track, being not curable in any way. The latter is the prime reason that humor is as good as absent in that film, while it is a prominent feature of 50/50, regardless of the fact that the spine tumor in 50/50 may prove just as fatal.The brain tumor is impossible to operate, and chemo nor radiation therapy seem to offer any relief. Telling everyone around what is going on, cannot be postponed very long. It will become apparent in a few months time anyway. But is it wise to tell the whole ugly truth to the daughter (12 years old) and son (8 years)?? And how will the grandparents deal with the bad news??From very close nearby we observe all subsequent phases leading to the inevitable death: sudden headaches, memory loss, problems with daily tasks, and more such side effects of deterioration. The constant daily burden works out very differently on the family members. The wife admits aloud that there are moments that she cannot take it anymore, and that she is happy when she can escape to her work. The daughter creates distance and is often away. We see similar differences in approach with others. That the good moments decrease and the bad moments increase obviously causes all sorts of cracks in mutual relationships.We see the months pass by. Visiting friends and relatives try to communicate with him, mostly with unexpected results when ancient memories hijack the dialog. We see him become weaker and weaker, mostly because of steadily rising doses of morphine he gets. A benefit of the sedation is that the home situation becomes gradually more quiet. In the meantime all get used to the idea that the end is near.The finale of this film is predictable, given what the doctor said at the beginning (this cannot be construed as a spoiler). The important message lies in what happened in between, how everyone was able (or not) to deal with the situation. It lets us ponder how we would behave ourselves when this happened in our own lives. Maybe the film prepares us for it, and makes us a better patient, friend or family member.All in all, I'm very satisfied with the film, the main actors and the ingredients for the story. You cannot help getting involved in how these people react, and their problems in doing their best, but not always succeed in that. I gave it 5 stars (out of 5) for the public prize competition when leaving the theater.

More
Tommi S.
2011/09/19

The movie 'Halt auf freier Strecke' draws a realistic story of a family facing a great loss. The film begins from the beginning of an end: at the clinic where a doctor gently delivers a death sentence for a father of a family.In the story, the parents' roles are solid and their mutual relationship is pictured in a beautiful but not overly romantic way. Outsiders to the nuclear family remain uncomfortable with the thought of death throughout. Amazingly that happens even to the close ones. Only those that are facing death at the daily basis seem to be okay with the idea.The daughter's role remains strangely distant throughout the movie. It is likely intentional from the director, as for a teenager the thought of someone's death might feel distant. However, if it were one's own father, I would imagine that the response would not necessarily be like the one pictured in the film, especially that the family seems like perfectly average.The film is probably a great chance for going through one's feelings for anyone who has experienced a cancer death of a close person. For others, it surely is a chance to stop for 110 minutes to think what it would mean for oneself if something tragic suddenly happened in one's own life.As a non-German viewer, it is refreshing for a change to see good movie-making from Germany motivated by something else than the currently hot "multi-kulti" topic. …and something that made me feel great at the end regardless of the theme was the soundtrack - German rock (when played at the right place at the right time) is just awesome!

More
Watch Instant, Get Started Now Watch Instant, Get Started Now