The first film directed and written by German poet and dramatist Thomas Brasch (who left the German Democratic Republic in 1977 to settle permanently in West Berlin), Angels of Iron is set in Berlin of 1948, during a time of political unrest and heavy unemployment, set to the droning sounds of the Berlin airlift. The story is based on a true incident involving three headline-making characters: Gladow, a 17-year-old tough who, with his gang, terrorizes the city with nightly raids and daytime thefts; Voelpel, a former executioner now secure in a police-station job, from which he leaks information to the thieves and splits the take; and Lisa Gabler, a would-be gun moll (“I have to think up a new name for myself; it has to be something American”). Variety's Ron Holloway writes, “Lensed by former Oscar-winner Walter Lassally in black and white, Angels of Iron makes its impact mostly as an authentic case and period piece.... But Brasch, as a poet...also tries to extend the story to the level of a political metaphor.... All of this could refer to current developments in a complexly conceived manner--for Brasch has said part of his personality can be found in all three characters.”