Lale Andersen - Die Stimme der Lili Marleen

A cinematic biography of the singer Lale Andersen and the song that brought her world fame: Lili Marleen. This success was nurtured by the military radio station Radio Belgrade, which played the song every night at 10 p.m. sharp. Every time they heard it, soldiers at Hitler’s fronts in Europe and North Africa burst into tears. As its success grew, the differences between song and singer faded; for millions of front-line soldiers longing for their darlings, hearths and homes, Lale Andersen was Lili Marleen. At the pinnacle of her fame, Goebbels forbade the singer to give any further performances because of her banned Jewish connections. The documentary alternates Andersen’s diary entries with accounts by her three children and the ninety-year-old composer of the song, Norbert Schultze. The camera follows the trace of Lale and Lili across the world, all the way to present-day Kosovo, where Radio Andernach plays the song every night at 10 p.m. sharp. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)