Synopsis
A film about ice hockey - the sport, the fans and the culture - accompanied by sorties into the history of ice hockey in the GDR. Moreover, and more importantly, this is a film about the difficulties that people from east and west Germany still have getting along with each other, ten years after reunification.The film follows ice hockey club "EHC Eisbären" during an entire season. The camera crew get close to both the players and the fans, portraying the sport from a completely new angle that makes It look almost balletic. The film shows all the hard work and concentration, the players' ability and the team work involved, it observes them during training and in the locker room preparing for a game, records the supreme efforts demanded of each play- and the team work involved, it observes them during training and in the locker room preparing for a game, records the supreme efforts demanded of each player and the emotions which come to the fore in the heat of their struggles out on the rink. Emotions are not merely the preserve of the players, however. Their fans, for whom the ice hockey arena means the whole world, are also affected. All of this is embedded in the club’s history, which reflects both the former GDR’s policy on sport and the problems that arose in the wake of Germany’s reunification.
Even today, many regard the contest out on the ice as the continuation of the struggle between East and West.
In this way, HOME GAME can be seen as a kind of portrait of German society ten years after the fall of the wall.
