| GERMANY |
| DISTANT LIGHTS |
Hans-Christian Schmid |
The distant lights in Hans-Christian Schmid’s
engaging ensemble drama are those illuminated by the promise
of a better life. The border between Frankfurt, Germany and
Slubice, Poland, formed by the river Oder, provides the setting
for this exploration of the boundaries of national and personal
identities. Five narrative threads interweave: a group of
Ukrainian refugees beg and bargain for entry to Berlin—the
“golden West;” a businessman loses everything
he owns only to find something of much greater value; a young
cigarette smuggler defies his father and brother to free the
girl he loves from a detention center; an interpreter risks
her career and her freedom to help an illegal refugee; and
an architect meets his former girlfriend and discovers that
they have both changed too much to find common ground. With
a deep humanist empathy, Schmid provides a sensitive yet realist
portrait of characters searching for individual freedom in
an often hostile world. International Critic’s Prize,
Berlin Film Festival. (103 mins.) In German/Polish/Russian.
Print courtesy of Bavaria Film. Sponsored by Lufthansa German
Airlines.
Selected Filmography: 23 (98), Crazy (00).
SHOWTIMES: 2/21, 6:30pm
B1; 2/23, 6pm and 2/24, 8:30pm B2. |
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| GOOD BYE, LENIN |
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Becker’s witty comedy won this year’s
European Film Award, swept the top prizes at the German Academy
Awards and is this year’s German submission for the
Best Foreign Film Oscar. It is October, 1989, East Berlin.
Alex and his sister find themselves watching over their mother,
who has just had a heart attack and is in a coma. Suddenly,
the Soviet Union implodes, the Communist government collapses
and the Wall comes down. Joyous news for many, but probably
not for their true-red, capitalist-hating mom. Eight months
later she awakens, the doctors warning that any sudden emotional
shocks might kill her. Loyalty to his Party-loving mom demands
that the wall go back up—at least in one small apartment—and
that socialist Germany lives just a bit longer. As Alex lovingly
transforms his bedridden mother’s world into a pre-Perestroika
time capsule, the film honors the human side of socialist
ideology but also pokes fun at the GDR, by turning its rhetoric
and products into nostalgic icons. Becker’s wonderfully
comic political allegory, bathed in warm ironies of both worlds,
puts a warm spin on the human side of reunification. (118
mins.) Print courtey of Sony Pictures Classics. Sponsored
by Lufthansa German Airlines.
Selected Filmography:
Child’s Play (92), Life Is All You Get (97).
SHOWTIMES: 2/20, 6:45pm
and 2/21, 3:30pm WH. |
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| RED AND BLUE |
Rudolf Thome |
Barbara always wanted to become a race-car
driver. Instead, she is now a successful architect. Although
it gives her the stability she needs, her life seems nevertheless
strangely fragile. Twenty years previously she lived with
a successful Turkish businessman and their daughter Ilke.
When he returned to Turkey, Ilke went with him, never to be
seen again. Now, upon the death of her father, Ilke returns
to Berlin with no idea where her mother is, but intent on
finding her and the answers to family mysteries. With the
aid of a private detective with a few secrets of his own,
daughter and mother move closer until two pasts and two presents
collide. “A long-separated German mother and her half-Turkish
daughter are reconciled in this splendidly serene dramatic
comedy that unfolds with all the wit, whimsy, pacing and shrewdness
of Eric Rohmer, Bill Forsyth and the more mature Woody Allen.”—Variety.
(112 mins.)
Selected Filmography: Three Women In Love
(89), Love At First Sight (91), Just Married (98), Paradisio
(01), Venus Talking (01).
SHOWTIMES: 2/17, 8:30pm;
2/19, 8:30pm and 2/21, 2:30pm B2. |
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| STALINGRAD |
Sebastian
Denhardt |
“Stalingrad the city may no longer exist,
but for all time that name will be associated with perhaps
the fiercest and unquestionably the most decisive battle of
World War II. The epic confrontation between German and Soviet
Russian armies—which left almost one million dead—at
Stalingrad in 1942–43 not only decided the outcome of
World War II but possibly the shape of the 20th century as
well. Using amazing period footage, including some 8mm films
shot by the soldiers themselves, as well as interviews with
survivors from both sides—ranging from ordinary conscripts
to officers close to the military authorities—Dehnhardt
creates a fascinating, in-depth look at the events leading
up to the attack, the battle itself and its aftermath.”—New
York Film Festival. (156 min.) Print courtesy of German United
Distributors.
Filmography: Hitler’s Generals
(96), Apocalypse Vietnam (00).
SHOWTIME: 2/28, 1pm GU. |
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