Der Sprinter is a "survived that" German movie. A young gay man, Weiland, struggles with his sexual identity, and wants to be "normal" after pressure from his parents to cut his hair and take up sports. He does so, taking up sprinting after seeing a well built (male) athlete, but then falls for a well built (female) shot putter. She and Weiland inspire each other to excel at their sports, despite Weiland never having had any previous training or talent.
His coach, who was pressured to fill up the team, sees the potential in Weiland when the shot putter is around, and takes advantage of this talent. Later he worries that since Weiland is in love, he no longer needs to impress the shot putter and will lose his athletic drive.
Weiland's mother, now more accepting of him, travels to see him compete.
Skip this confusion of a film! Weiland is just a vapid and dull character. He portrayed nothing of the gay experience, and if the film was trying to be a comedy or satire it failed in that respect too because it's unfunny and everything is played too straight. It seems more like the film is making fun of specific German types rather than any real statement about homosexuality. The humor could not have been that subtle throughout the film for me not to have gotten one joke.
Sure, you can have a gay character "switch teams" but it needs to back that up and say something, or make fun of him or the people who look down on him, which this film didn't.
The lead actor and director co-wrote this miserable oddball script. What the heck were they trying to say? I don't know. Whoever bankrolled this project--shame on you! Thankfully these guys seem to have few movie credits to their name and have hopefully gone on to other pastures.
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