Balloon

Around the world in 80 days? The Strelzyk and Wetzel families just need to stay aloft for 30 minutes to clear the Berlin Wall and reach the West! But with their every step, the secret police for the German DEMOCRATIC Republic, led by the watchful stare of a Stasi Lieutenant (Thomas Kretschmann), are closing in. From the amount of material they purchase for the canopy to the necessary air currents being just right for takeoff, obstacles present a tense and tightening grip on their world view as if through a fisheye lens slowly shuttering its window of opportunity to escape communism! This intensity builds in director Michael Herbig’s film, similar to the foreboding atmosphere found in A Quiet Place, only this one is based on a true story!

[NR]