"A plattenbau-Western taking a dig at the GDR's self-congratulatory housing propaganda. DEFA films were rarely as critical and realistic as this one."

–Achtung Berlin Festival

“One of DEFA’s important critical-realistic films!"

-Alpha TV

“An honest and socially critical film that advocates for the issues facing young people who feel emotionally suffocated—and not only in the GDR!”      

—film-dienst

“Originally, a close-up shows Stefan's strained face. He holds and holds and holds Windjacke. Fade out. The end. The Story remains open. It's literally up in the air whether Stefan can hold him or whether he'll drop him or has to drop him. The studio approval of the film went brilliantly, and the film was deemed to be valuable in terms of content and art. But four weeks later the state approval took place, in which we were not involved, and suddenly the committee had found a fly in the ointment, and it was a huge one. The film was suddenly hostile: it attacked the housing program. [...] Then there were alleged letters from viewers: again, no movie about us. It was more of a general attack against DEFA, accusing them of not making appropriate films.” —Herrmann Zschoche, Zeitzeugengespräch, 2011