Movie is better than book

sorry but I have to disagree with this comment. whilst the film is one of the best & most honest translations of an autobiography I have seen it is not better than the book. The film, due to time constraints changes some characters & events. The book also has passages written by Christiane's mother, social workers & police. This gives different insights to Christiane's life the film doesn't show.
I purchased the book in 1981 when it was first released(yep i'm old)& have read it countless times. I also first saw the film around the same time.
It is wonderful it has been re-released on DVD. Now 23 years later they still affect me.
By all means see this film but get the book if you can. It will fill in many missing pieces in Christiane's incredible childhood.

I must agree with the other two comments. Sure the Film is great, but the Book is much better. The Book has a lot more details, facts and comments that portrait also other characters and their feelings, such as those of the mother or the police woman. I just hated those who should represent authority,the way they saw the problem and how they thought it should be dealt with.
Christiane once by her grandmother in Hamburg wanted out, and wanted to finish school, but the principal threw her out because of her past in Berlin.

Also most facts that were shown in the movie did actually happen, but I noticed that some, after reading the book, actually happend differently. For example she did not shoot up for the first time on her Birthday but (if I remember correctly) three days later. Also she was not in Berlin when Axel died, but she was by her Aunt on the country side, and clean for some time. And last she did go to that public toilet intended to OD, but it was not after that that her mother sent her to Hamburg. She was sent to Hamburg after being caught by the Police for the 3rd time.

So the Book has a lot more details. Personally I first saw the Film, then read the Book, and have re-seen the film. They are both good portraits of how West Berlin, and the Federal Republic of Germany were in those days. I myself was in Germany for ten years in the eighties and it was still very much like that in those years, though it was changing.

gatta disagree.. i cant even campre the movie to the book!!
the movie is good, yeah.. but not helf as good as the book!
and if you didnt read the book and saw the movie it would'nt make any sense,
beacuse it looks like they cut piece's of the book and put it in the movie. it is vary confusing..

but the movie is really good. look's almost like a documentry beacuse it look's so real and grapic. i actully thought i already watched it beacuse i saw all those images in my head while reading the book.
i was shocked like 10 minutes after the cradits ended infront of the t.v set just amazed on how REAL it looked.
realy left a mark on me, but sorry.. not even close like the book!

Imagination fill the void of my existence..

[deleted]

I've just read the book and watched the movie again. I still think the movie is much more powerful than the book.
It was the movie that helped keeping me away from ever trying hard drugs - not the book.

The movie is excellent, it's imagery, it's style, the music, and the young actors are all great. And for once the film stays very faithful to the book source. However the film ends too abruptly, where the book continues to follow Christiane on her journey into the countryside, where we see her life after heroin, and how she slowly adjusts to normal life. At the books end, we see Christiane dealing with the things that kids her age should be dealing with. The ending is wonderful and brings closure to the tale. I love the film, i just wish the ending wasn't wrapped up so quickly and neatly, with her saying "I survived it.." the end...
"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'