User Reviews

I just stumbled across this film, when it was broadcasted on German TV as part of the Christmas programme. Although I am not so much a fan of romance films (especially when they're German), I was immediately captivated.

(spoiler)

The main characters are Eddie, a loser with no job, no wife, no money and a left/right-disorder, who wants to be a bus driver, and Anna, who works at a snack bar at the airport. Both of them are lonely, however for different reasons. When they accidentally meet in front of a cinema on Christmas Eve, Eddie wants to know more about her. At first, Anna is very shy and unfriendly, but Eddie manages to bring a smile on her face and some light into her sad, lonely life. He can even dissuade her from committing suicide. But is he really the man that he pretends to be?

(end of spoiler)

While the story sounds a bit clichéd, the conversion is excellent. All characters are believable and lovable (even the bum that lives in front of Anna's house). I especially like how the people portrayed in the film are real losers. You would never see that (to such an extent) in a Hollywood film. Also Bettina Kupfer as Anna is very pretty. I give it a 10 out of 10, because not many films have touched me like this one. The ending scene at the airport made me cry for joy. Exceptional!

Watch this when you feel bad, because it will really cheer you up.

"Schutzengel gesucht" is a German television movie from 2001, so not too long anymore until this one has its 20th anniversary. The director here is Portuguese-born Miguel Alexandre, a really prolfic filmmaker when it comes to projects for the small screen here in Germany. But great quantity does not always mean great quality and there are quite a few films in his body of work that did not impress me at all. The script for these under 90 minutes is by Ben Taylor and he sure is a bit of an unusual figure. While he has worked on several pretty well-known films screenplay-wise, he also has many acting credits in his body of work, even one for Walk the Line, one of my favorite films ever as a huge Johnny Cash and Joaquin Phoenix fan. Now initially I thought he has a name that exists really often and maybe the mixed things up, but apparently not. Anyway, now to this movie here. The main character is played by Bettina Kupfer, an actress that I must say I am not familiar with at all, but I think it's been a really long time since she got cast for lead roles. As for her male co-lead Armin Rohde, he is still really famous, popular and in demand right now almost two decades later. If that is thanks to his charisma or really him being a talented versatile actor is up to you to decide, maybe a mix of both, but really more of the former I'd say. I think, however, that both leads here did a pretty good job. Kupfer was giving a nice portrayal with how she is struggling with life, with solitude most of all. And Rohde has his own struggles too as we find out more and more about the longer the film goes, most of all related to his work, but also as a consequence related to really essential questions like where to sleep. And also the mother of his daughter does not want him to have any contact with her. So he visits her secretly as often as he can at her bakery. The daughter is played by the really young and stunning Bernadette Heerwagen in here.

But this is just a side-plot. At the center of it all, it is about the two main characters' relationship and how they get closer and closer and it is difficult for both, especially the girl to trust somebody, whcih makes it a bit more difficult. But as this is a Christmas-themed movie from German television, of course there is a happy ending. Sadly, the film has too many struggles in the script for me to recommend it and these are at the center as well as at the side action. For example the ways in which the young woman's mother is depicted or also the guy at the unemployment agency do not feel realistic at all. So it is a really good thing I guess that this is not a comedy movie. It is a mix of romance and drama. The suicidal story early on was a major dsiappointment though and felt really cheap and not doing justice to those who really struggled with depression. Like how quickly she is getting better only because of the guy she met. Or really early on she tells him that if he won't let her alone she is going to call the police and only moments later she seems so thrilled to spend time with him. Aside from these two and occasional deficits in writing there, the film most all has difficulties in depicting the supporting characters in a convincing way. Be it the scenes with the boys bullying the woman and her (really unrealistic) standing up for herself all of a sudden. Or the other boy who talks like a grown-up to her already. And there is more. As for the latter, his reuniting with the old lady at the very end was also clearly for the audience. I mean there is not a single reference that these two know each other and then they basically get the final scene together. Come on. I kept wondering by the way if these two are guardian angels or one of these two because I thought with the title there must be some supernatural creature somewhere and initially I thought it would be Rohde's character, but as he was seen by others it became obvious that he wasn't. He was just her boyfriend materiel guardian angel if you want to call it that, also because he saved her basically from her suicide idea. Overall, the two leads sometimes come close to mking me think about this film getting a positive reccommendation, but all in all the story jsut isn't good enough. It's not a failure and there are many worse films shown here on television in Germany over the holidays, but I believe that you should skip this one. Not recommended.