Very fine, Adrian. And spot on. History shows that wishful thinking doesn't keep you out of the gulag, even if resistance puts you there faster. And many people have not learned that compliance doesn't keep you safe, either. What compliance may do is buy you a short reprieve, but at the expense of others in the path of ideological destruction. Totalitarians don't scruple to dine on their own comrades.
I've watched "The Lives of Others" more than once, own the DVD, and I don't need subtitles! I understand where you are coming from in the sense of "this didn't really happen", but on the other hand, 2006 was about the year when Germans decided that it might be okay to stop hating themselves so much merely for being German. I think the message here is that it is possible to be courageous, and one doesn't need to have been named Sophie Scholl to have done so. I don't think the film would have gone over anywhere near as well in Germany had it not had the heroic deeds, and I think the whole thing would have felt a lot closer to Dostoyevsky's "Notes from Underground" as well.
Another bit of ostalgie came out a few years prior, Goodbye Lenin. At the time I mentioned it to my professor, an ethnic German who grew up in Ceaucescu’s Romania, who had some very harsh words for the “humanizing” and soft touch that some approached former communist states.
I loved "Goodbye Lenin" and saw it twice in the theater in Germany (it was so popular that it ran in the theater for an entire year). It's a comedy, though, somewhat in the sense of say, Operation Petticoat.
I liked it too but had no context to disagree with the Professor. Just that her strong opinion left an impression on me and made me think a little more about entertainment.
With my friends who grew up in the former USSR or East Germany, there's a huge gap in attitude and experience. My generation (I was born in '79) is the last to really remember living under Soviet Communism, and there's a fair amount of nostalgia there because even if a lot of them were materially poor, it just seemed like everybody was. They didn't experience the Stasi or the KGB "disappearing" people the way their grandparents had, and they hadn't yet had the adult experiences under communism that their parents experienced. Add to that a lot of post-Soviet chaos, and it's not hard to imagine that there'd be a lot of people now who aren't exactly young who still think back fondly to their youth under communism.
Because it is an unspeakably vile deeply pornographic snuff/splatter film in which the "hero" representing every single human being and humankind altogether is systematically beaten to death
Very fine, Adrian. And spot on. History shows that wishful thinking doesn't keep you out of the gulag, even if resistance puts you there faster. And many people have not learned that compliance doesn't keep you safe, either. What compliance may do is buy you a short reprieve, but at the expense of others in the path of ideological destruction. Totalitarians don't scruple to dine on their own comrades.
Thank you!
I've watched "The Lives of Others" more than once, own the DVD, and I don't need subtitles! I understand where you are coming from in the sense of "this didn't really happen", but on the other hand, 2006 was about the year when Germans decided that it might be okay to stop hating themselves so much merely for being German. I think the message here is that it is possible to be courageous, and one doesn't need to have been named Sophie Scholl to have done so. I don't think the film would have gone over anywhere near as well in Germany had it not had the heroic deeds, and I think the whole thing would have felt a lot closer to Dostoyevsky's "Notes from Underground" as well.
Oh I’m sure you’re right! We just need to be careful about what we take away from it, that’s all : )
I have watched "The Lives of Others" several times, and have a DVD copy of it.
I thought it was just me, that found the story not truly believable. (Wasn't sure how to describe my thoughts).
Ulrich Mühe, played an incredible role, as did Sebastian Koch, the reason I watched several times...
Absolutely agree with you regarding "On the Waterfront": a must watch film for anyone that hasn't seen it
Another bit of ostalgie came out a few years prior, Goodbye Lenin. At the time I mentioned it to my professor, an ethnic German who grew up in Ceaucescu’s Romania, who had some very harsh words for the “humanizing” and soft touch that some approached former communist states.
I loved "Goodbye Lenin" and saw it twice in the theater in Germany (it was so popular that it ran in the theater for an entire year). It's a comedy, though, somewhat in the sense of say, Operation Petticoat.
I liked it too but had no context to disagree with the Professor. Just that her strong opinion left an impression on me and made me think a little more about entertainment.
With my friends who grew up in the former USSR or East Germany, there's a huge gap in attitude and experience. My generation (I was born in '79) is the last to really remember living under Soviet Communism, and there's a fair amount of nostalgia there because even if a lot of them were materially poor, it just seemed like everybody was. They didn't experience the Stasi or the KGB "disappearing" people the way their grandparents had, and they hadn't yet had the adult experiences under communism that their parents experienced. Add to that a lot of post-Soviet chaos, and it's not hard to imagine that there'd be a lot of people now who aren't exactly young who still think back fondly to their youth under communism.
Maybe I'll give On the Waterfront another try...saw it in high school and wasn't impressed but that was high school.
I hope you like it better this time!
I vote for seeing again.
In high school, I believe we were all idealistic to a degree.
On the Waterfront is one of those films that make you think.
Marlon Brando's finest, as well as Karl Malden.
Released in '54, my birth year...
... "One man, with God, is always a majority"
Perfect & pithy --- thank you, Dr.
It’s not me, but thanks! Can’t tell who said it first, there are many attributions, but it’s a good and true line!
In my opinion the film reviewed here http://www.logosjournal.com/hammer_kellner.htm is easily the worst film of recent times.
Why?
Because it is an unspeakably vile deeply pornographic snuff/splatter film in which the "hero" representing every single human being and humankind altogether is systematically beaten to death
You’re really not gonna like the sequel!