[luckyjimm]

Thanks a lot, Moneyline - I'll look for it.

Christiane F is apparently HUGE in Germany, Italy and elsewhere in Europe, but here in England I'd never heard of it at all. It's the story of a 13-14 year old girl's descent into heroin addiction and prostitution. What's so great is it's so evocative of a time and era - late '70s/early '80s Berlin. Christiane falls in with a crowd of teenage addicts who hang around the central train station performing tricks so they can fund their next hit.

Christiane is a big Bowie fan, and an early scene is filmed at one of his concerts. Near the end when she's been totally corrupted, she tries to sell his records to someone on the street. Bowie's music is key to the atmosphere - he did the soundtrack, too. You see her transformation from fresh-faced child to grizzled street junkie. There are some horrendous scenes showing her shooting up, overdosing, etc. One of the reasons she takes drugs is to feel close to her boyfriend. In the starkest scene, they're locked up in her room trying to detox cold turkey, shaking, sweating and convulsing. However she reveals to her boyfriend she's hidden a wrap of heroin, and he starts chopping it up. But then she projectile vomits all over it - OH NOES!!!

A really shocking film, but very moving and brilliantly done. The actress who played Christiane F never really did much more again; it wasn't a performance she could ever match.