Many scenes in this film were shot on a moving train at the height of the covid pandemic. By strategically using museum figures instead of extras, the risk of contamination of the actors was reduced.
“3 ½ Hours” describes the drama of August 13, 1961 from an unusual perspective. The passengers on the inter-zone train from Munich to East Berlin found out 3 ½ hours before crossing the border that the Wall was being built in Berlin. In this short time to the East German border, they have to make an existential decision: get out or continue. Only a few more stops to the border, time is running unstoppably, secrets, fears, longings and abysses come to light – and the entire political state of a torn country comes to a head in a human microcosm on rails.
