Horst in Translation ([email protected])
Well.. calling it famous may be a bit too much, but compared to other works from the documentary genre in Germany, this one is actually fairly popular and well-known less than a year after it got released. This 90-minute movie was done by a trio of directors and all three of them (Hoppe, Lange, Maeck) have a connection somehow to Berlin in the 1980s. This is what the movie is about. Mark Reeder co-wrote this and he is also the one narrating from first-hand experience because of the experiences he made during that time in the underground music and movie establishment in Berlin. You may have seen him in some of Jörg Buttgereit's films, especially "Nekromantik 2". We also see reaction from members of the German punk rock band "Die Ärzte" about the movie. And there are many other musicians in here who had a special connection with Berlin around that era, such as David Hasselhoff, Nick Cave, David Bowie or "Die Toten Hosen".I myself had an interest in this film as I was born in Berlin and lived here for almost my entire life. I wasn't yet born or too young when it comes to most of the contents from this movie, even if I certainly roughly knew about the circumstances. Good thing is that this film is not exclusively about music in West Berlin, but about Berlin (also East) in general in a historic context. Everybody with an interest in this wonderful city will appreciate the watch I am positive. The only reason why I am not giving this one a higher rating is because I personally do not really identify with most of the people (or the movement in general) that this film is about. However, maybe you think differently about that approach and in that case you will enjoy it even more than I did. I thought this was a pretty solid documentary and I recommend it.
