The Red Jacket

2002 0h 20m DE

👍

6.7

SOLID

⭐

7.3

IMDB

★6.7TMDB · 7★7.3IMDB · 208

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A German father's soccer-playing son is hit by a car and dies. The father donates the boy's red jacket to charity, where it ends up in war-torn Sarajevo. The boy's parents are killed, and he almost is. Some UN soldiers find him, and send him to a hospital in Germany. He escapes the hospital, is hit by a car (but unhurt). The driver reads the tag inside the jacket and "returns" the boy to the grieving father.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Ulrich Noethen
Vater
Catrin Striebeck
Autofahrerin
Tetje Mierendorf
DRK-Helfer
Philipp Hochmair
UN - Sanitäter 1
Nikola Janković
Nikola

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Florian Baxmeyer
Languages: German, Serbo-Croatian
Countries: Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 20-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 24 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: German, Serbo-Croatian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Ulrich Noethen and Catrin Striebeck and Tetje Mierendorf carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0323844 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 7 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Florian Baxmeyer directs. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Germany. Dialogue in German, Serbo-Croatian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 20-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Released 24 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: German, Serbo-Croatian.
4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
5Ulrich Noethen and Catrin Striebeck and Tetje Mierendorf carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt0323844 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 7 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Runtime: 20 min · 0h 20m
Status: Released
Original language: DE
IMDB: The Red Jacket (2002)
IMDB rating: 7.3/10 · 208 votes

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 2 nominations total

Also by

Florian Baxmeyer

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-07-05
★ 7/10
Starting at the scene of a road traffic accident, we quickly discover that a man's Bayern Munich loving son has been the victim and that a father (Ulrich Noethen) is devasted. They had identified the lad by the name tag in his team jacket, but the man cannot bear to possess that any longer so he gives it to the Red Cross. They ship it off to war-torn Sarajevo where it is espied by a young urchin (Nikola Jankovic) who pinches it and takes it back to his home. There, though, he discovers that his parents have been slaughtered and where he is left for dead by their killers in the burning ruins of their booby-trapped house. Fortunately for him, an UN squad arrives and thanks to a kindly soldier who wants to help him out he is airlifted to hospital in Germany and awakens in a bed. First thing he sees is his top and so donning that he makes for the exit. With no idea where he is, or where he's going, he wanders out into the street and into the path of a Mercedes whose panic-striken driver sees he name tag and returns the jumper to it's original owner - complete with a new boy! What might the father do? Now the first thing I thought was that as talisman's go, this is one to be avoided. Aside from the fact that any football top is as likely to engender hatred from others as it is support, this one seems particularly attached to disaster and perhaps ought just to go in a bonfire as it leaves it's trail of death and destruction behind it. There is, however, a message of hope amidst this decently constructed and photographed drama that is effectively epitomised by the effort from the engaging young Jankovic. With barely any dialogue and now in a strange home with a strange man speaking in a strange language, might serendipity finally have taken an hand for the better?