main films of East German-themed films after the 1990s :
"National People's Army",
"Berlin Life",
"Goodbye Lenin",
"Other People's Life"
East Germany to China: the
reason for choosing this theme. Because I saw a passage in "Goodbye Lenin": My sister saw it at the entrance of Burger King's shop, driving a Volvo with gold-rimmed glasses, and went to East Germany 20 years ago. Silence, stinging strangeness, no recognition. The woman and daughter sitting in the back of the car flashed past the camera. Those are the sons and daughters of his father's remarriage in West Germany.
I remembered an article in Zhu Tianwen’s novel, "Something happened to the Peach Tree Family", which talked about the displacement of a family under the ordinary life and the past of a generation in a special era. There is a Mr. Meng who went to Taiwan in 49. Remarry and have children. When his wife knew that he was married before the mainland, he said: "Wife is in the mainland. It has been more than 20 years. Is it equal to not."
At that time , I suddenly felt that the issue of the two virtues is comparable and common to China and Taiwan now. Place. The same nation has capitalism on one side and socialism on the other. There are complicated and entangled historical grievances and embarrassments, but also the blood of the same root and the same family. The difference is that the two Germanys have been unified. After the reunification, they will face huge economic differences and people's inner divide. What about China?
Berlin, a magazine once said that it is the most Beijing city in Europe. There are ancient buildings and ruins, as well as cranes under construction.
The sickle and axe of China, the hammer and scissors of the GDR. All socialist countries are similar.
Movies reflecting East German themes appeared after the reunification of the two Germanys. However, due to special political reasons in China, things with similar themes cannot be expected.
Comedic expression:
As far as I know, many big directors of German films, such as Vim Wenders, Fassbinder, etc., are from West Germany. At the end of the 1990s, the Soviet Union disintegrated, the two Germanys merged, and Eastern Europe changed drastically. It seemed that overnight, the mountains and rivers changed color, people's hearts were in disarray, values were questioned, ideals were abandoned, and beliefs fell apart. Against this background, it is the little people who are hesitating and crying without tears. They are the countless people who have married themselves to the socialist motherland. They cannot easily bid farewell to this era and plunge into another world.
Because of these, as well as politics, works reflecting East German subjects were still lacking 90 years ago.
In 2003, the appearance of "Goodbye Lenin" caused the German society to miss the topic of East Germany enthusiastically, so that a newly coined word "East German nostalgia" appeared in German.
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, 14 years later, when the Germans looked at this issue again, the attitude in the film was warm and comic.
The film ridiculed various shortcomings of the former East Germany period: rationing of goods and totalitarian rule, but more often, the director recalled the mutual help between neighbors in that era, and everyone had a firm goal, trust and pride in the country. . The reunification of Germany from 1978 to 1990, the changes of an East German family during that time.
The fake news produced by the hero to comfort his mother is more like a director’s reimagining of history. When the TV news announcer seemed to announce that a large number of West German residents had fled to East Germany, after the great changes, Alex met the national hero who he admired when he was a child on the street, and found that he could only open one. When a tattered taxi makes a living, it is a black humor that satirizes the old system; however, when the film describes the frustrations of the "socialist old people" in their lives and denounces the capitalist "all looks at money"; when the East Germany Currency becomes waste paper overnight, and the hero is floating on the roof of his mother's life savings; when the innocent singing of the young pioneers brings people back to the memory of the "beautiful" of the past, the film is filled with thoughts of the good times of the past And warmth. The
story is told easily and humorously. The background of the great era was overwhelming, but it was dealt with calmly. The end of the comedy.
When watching reflective films in China and Germany, I found reflective films. In the early stages of reflection, comedy is often used, which can be seen in the German film "Goodbye Lenin" and the Chinese film "Alley Celebrities".
But I think there are two forms of comedic reflective films:
One is the "comedy irony" that Russian critics face the problem of Russian reflective films. Most of them are young directors’ perceptions of the former Soviet society’s reality, due to their own problems. Limited by experience, there is no fundamental resistance, but more ridicule. This can also be glimpsed in some films after the Cultural Revolution in our country.
Another kind of comedy is affectionate and silent. It expresses the caress, nostalgia, and goodbye of the former people to the past after the social transformation. Autocratic society not only means imprisonment and restriction, but also the umbilical cord connected to their history and the previous era. As the protagonist's mouth in "Goodbye Lenin" said: "Germany may not be perfect, but she is our mother and our root."
Thoughts on authoritarianism: the
Chinese name "Eavesdropping Storm", the English name is translated as " "The Life of Others", I would like to call it "The Good Men Sonata". The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989. I have no memory. Democratic East Germany, democratic Soviet Union, democratic China. The scrutiny and introspection of history is based on a fragile and respectable personality.
When I first watched this movie, my feelings were mixed. It's piled up in the chest and can't tell. To express emotions by moving or shaking, I'm afraid it will be frivolous.
The drama director who committed suicide and was banned from work said, "Questioning the spirit, loving human beings is the greatest strength to a nation." I also firmly believe that.
I think of the analysis of "Scorching Sun" in the freshman year. The teacher's lesson plan wrote: how to be alert to one's own evil and how to decide one's choice when the historical sinister situation strikes from behind.
There are several choices in the face of history: go with the flow (Ancient Chinese Admonition: Those who know the current affairs are a good man) and take care of themselves
(Wang Xiaobo's summary: the silent majority)
self-salvation (Sartre: existential humanitarianism, choice is inevitable and inevitable. Ha. Will: anti-political politics, the power of the powerless)
In the 28 years since the establishment of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and its collapse in 1989, the secret police’s biggest business was to prevent people from fleeing. 75,000 people were imprisoned for attempting to escape, and 809 people were killed as a result of escape. Approximately 7,500 border police "flee by guard". One-third of them escaped successfully, and two-thirds who were unsuccessful were put in jail. East Germany employed a total of 90,000 official secret police and 175,000 secret informants to control 17 million people. Among them, wives monitored husbands, students monitored professors, children monitored parents, and lovers monitored each other.
This reminds me of the Cultural Revolution in China, which is to reveal the truth and tear down each other. Those whistleblowers cannot be analyzed in a purely manner. I think there is both humanity and collective unconsciousness. I can sometimes understand those who betray others. They make me meditate on people, meditate on human nature.
This is not pure cynicism.
After the reunification, a former East German informer defended himself that he was actually a monarchist. He does not believe that the system can be transformed. He did not deny that he worked for the secret police, but he insisted that it was just a kind of helplessness, "the secret police can't control me." He admitted that he was afraid that if he didn't cooperate, he would be tortured or even killed. "I exist, it is a kind of victory for me."
Some people have no sense of repentance. "Because the informant is a normal life, if people get hurt, then I admit that I have done wickedly. Therefore, the informant and evil are still differences."
Cultural Revolution documentary "Morning Sun" in young people during the Cultural Revolution The displayed certain religiousness was analyzed.
This is also true in Germany. There are indeed some people who believe in Marxism, so they volunteer to work for the secret police.
But most people are opportunists, earning some benefits by working for the secret police. Many people believe that the only way to prevent themselves from becoming a victim of the dictatorship is to cooperate with the authorities. Others did it helplessly under duress. This is what I think is weakness.
These are strikingly similar to those in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Ba Jin's "Caprice Records" is considered to be his confession of the Cultural Revolution. I have read a book "Ten Years of a Hundred People" by Feng Jicai. The most insidious, cruel, and most animalistic book in the world is not beasts, but humans.
The famous philosopher Karl Jaspers divided the guilt of ordinary people under the totalitarian state into four types: criminal guilt, political guilt, moral guilt and metaphysical guilt. These four sins were put forward by Jaspers in the "German Sins" written by Jaspers after the war. I believe that the discrimination and distinction of these four guilts is important for ordinary people who reflect on the Nazi rule (Mi Ro of the former Soviet Union). Mu has made a documentary film "Ordinary Fascism"). The nature of existence is very important, and it still has practical significance for thinking about other forms of totalitarian rule. Among the four responsibilities that Jaspers distinguished, the first one is criminal responsibilities. Those responsible for criminal law are those who violated the law and were convicted in due process of law. The law here does not necessarily refer to the existing written positive law in a country, because this kind of positive law itself may violate moral higher laws, such as natural law and international law. Criminal responsibility is determined by the court that tries criminals. As far as the situation in Germany is concerned, the Nuremberg International Tribunal will first hold the Nazis criminally responsible, and then the German judiciary will continue to pursue the Nazis who committed major crimes. The judgment on criminal law responsibility belongs to the court. 〔Karl Jaspers, The Question of German Guilt. Trans. EB Ashton. New York: Capricorn Books, 1947, p. 31. Quoted from: Xu Ben: The Disaster Historical Witness of the Unity of Knowledge and Action: Ya Standing on the Ruins of Totalitarian Morality Spears. 〕The
East German government needs a good international reputation. They cannot use gas chambers and assassination teams. So they secretly carried out the most terrifying business.
The secret police in East Germany collected such boring secret files of so many citizens. It fully reflects the morbid fears of those rulers. They regarded every citizen as a potential enemy and recorded everything in their daily lives, but as a result, they were still unable to detect and control the organized resistance movement that swept the country and overthrew their dictatorship.
After the reunification of Germany in October 1990, the Bonn Congress was hesitant about how to deal with the secret archives. Some congressmen warned that the secrets in the archives were too explosive to be made public, and suggested burning them. Others suggest that for social security reasons, it must be sealed for several years before it can be made public. Or part of it will be made public after processing.
However, the elected members of East Germany opposed these views. They persuaded Congress to make the name of the file public. Everyone who was persecuted by the dictatorship could check his file instead of opening it to a third party. West German newspapers commented that there has never been a government in history that has disclosed such a large number of police records to such a large population.
In contrast, China had done a file clean-up process for handling whistle-blower materials and reviewing and confessing text in the Cultural Revolution around 1980. At that time, a method was adopted for all such materials in the Cultural Revolution: taking them out of the files and burning them.
The German nation is worthy of respect.
How do people resist their own evil. How to be unreal weak. How to decide your choice when the torrent of history hits from behind.
These three sentences spur me on in the peaceful era.
Finally, I want to end with the last line in "Goodbye Lenin."
"We believe that this country is not perfect,
but what we believe in has inspired many people in the world.
Sometimes we lose our goals in
our eyes. We think that socialism is
to make things right with others.
Peace with others. Coexistence
is not the best world of dreams
but to realize them.”
Appendix:
"Goodbye Lenin" won 6 awards including best film at the 2003 German LOIa Film Festival.
At the 53rd Berlin Film Festival in 2003, he won the Blue Angel Award for Best European Film.
summary of the story:
The mother of the boy Yari was a loyal East German communist believer. However, in 1989, she saw her son appear in a parade attacked by the police, and was shocked and unconscious on the spot. No longer awake in a faint. After sleeping for eight months, she woke up miraculously, but Germany was already unified. The doctor thought she could not be hit by any major blows. Yari believes that the biggest blow to his mother is that his lifelong trust in socialism has been assimilated by capitalism. So Yali could only lie to, the communist regime was still established, and the system was perfect and well-led. The socialist system continues in the 79-square-meter bedroom.
"The Life of Others" 2007 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film Award
Story Summary: The
time is 1984, the location is Berlin, East Germany, and the opening subtitles appear every time "Openness is everywhere". The people of all East Germany are controlled by one million Stasi secret police, and there are two million informants. Their goal is to know every detail of other people's lives.
Among the most dedicated Stasi officers, there is a Captain Gerd Wiesler (played by Ulrich Muer), who has sunken eye sockets and always stares blankly. . He can smell different opinions from thousands of miles away, and he doesn't have any private life of his own other than work. In a recent performance, he watched the performance of Georg Dreyman (played by Sebastian Coch)-"Our only writer who is not dangerous is being read by the West", so he decided, almost It was a personal challenge. To investigate this writer, Wesler did not believe that he would be as innocent as he appeared to be. With the support of his old colleague Grubitz (played by Ulrich Turkur, he always exudes a cruel kindness), the highest official of the Ministry of Culture, as well as the former Stasi military officer to transfer Minister Hemf Hempf (played by Thomas Thieme), Wesler installed wires in Dreman's apartment. It's just that Weisler couldn't leave anything on the scribe, he always naively believed that the East German social system was the most perfect. As a result, there was a dramatic side of the film, and Wesler began to be attracted by Dreman’s life, especially about him and the actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Ge (Date played) emotional problems. At that time, Hemf was also very fascinated by Krista-Maria, and he ordered Weisler to use some means to contain Dreyman in order to remove this obstacle. So this loyal East German Stasi "servant" found himself in a dilemma for the first time in his career. At the same time, due to the suicide of a close friend, Deleiman's beliefs were gradually shaken.
View more about The Lives of Others reviews
