Es genügt nicht 18 zu sein

Summary

Being 18 Is Not Enough

The seven members of a youth work crew in a petroleum producing district of Mecklenburg talk about the rigors of work and life in the dreary countryside. They are soft, vulnerable and pensive. They don’t talk about "building Socialism", but they do practice the twist. But then one of them is promoted to shift supervisor after the former job holder is criticised for duplicity; another of the young men becomes a father ...

The film was banned in early 1966 for "disparaging the working class". After it had been re-edited and three minutes were cut, it was shown in the autumn of that year under the title "Hello, This is Us". Although technical faults with the audio had been fixed in the new version, the re-editing moderated the severity of how the conflicts were portrayed.

Source: 66. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)