Abwärts

Abwärts ("Downwards") is a West German post-punk group from Hamburg. Members Mark Chung and FM Einheit would leave the group in the early 1980s to join the Berlin-based band Einstürzende Neubauten.

Their best-known recordings include the single "Computerstaat" ("Computer State") (1980) and the LP's Amok Koma (1981) and Der Westen ist Einsam ("The West Is Lonely") (1982), the latter in particular being regarded as a classic of West German post-punk.

The group is profiled along with other contemporaries in Jürgen Teipel's 2001 documentary novel Verschwende Deine Jugend.

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Abwärts (film)

Abwärts (lit. "downwards", also known as "Out of Order") is a German film directed by Carl Schenkel. It was released in 1984.

Plot

Gössmann, a bookkeeper who has just robbed his employer of a large sum of money gets stuck in an elevator of an office tower together with Jörg, his lover Marion and the young Pit. Because it is Friday evening and an engineer working on the elevators made a mistake, the alarm system is not working and nobody can hear them call for help.

Jörg and Pit antagonize each other from the beginning based on their different age and world views. Gössmann remains quiet in a corner of the cabin, while Marion socializes with Pit and continues her ongoing quarrels with Jörg. After finding a hatch in the ceiling of the cabin, both Jörg and Pit who are the only ones physically fit enough, climb onto the roof of the elevator and attempt to reach elevator doors, but fail.

When Jörg returns the roof a second time alone, he starts to climb and almost falls to death. Meanwhile Pit and Marion start flirting heavily, and Jörg becomes aware of it when he returns. After suddenly discovering a hidden compartment with a rope in it, Jörg and Pit continue to work together despite of the increased tension between them. When Pit is lowered through the elevator shaft on the rope and accidentally slips, he openly accuses Jörg of trying to kill him. Pit starts a fight on the elevator roof, but he slips and falls. Soon Jörg is suspected of having murdered Pit.