“Good Bye Lenin!” by Wolfgang Becker is one of the most successful German films of all time. It tells the story of reunification of West and East Germany, but also comes back in time a little and reflects about the past of the country. Today, I will be talking about “Good Bye Lenin!” and how it portrays the past of the Germany, and in my eyes, it portrays the past in very nostalgic way and Ostalgie plays a big role in it as well.

Christiane who is Alex’s mother, is a communist activist and she strongly believes in socialism. After 8 months of being in a coma she wakes up in a completely different country and political system. The Berlin Wall does not exist anymore and the country is finally united. For her generation, those changes were very dramatic, and Christiane’s character and her behaviour is a very good representation of Ostalgie. Ostalgie is a German term and it’s about nostalgia for life in East Germany (ost- east, nostalgie-nostalgia). After destroying the Berlin Wall, Eastern Germany culture started to disappear. As Barney says “Significantly, ostalgie began with the “museumification” of East Germany and the collection of elements of everyday GDR life for national displays across Germany. (Barney, 2009). In the film Alex created almost a living museum in Christiane’s room. He brought back old furnitures,  and created a living museum for his mother.

Fashion, food and apartment design have been replaced by things from the West. We can see it in a clip below when Christiane is leaving the apartment on her own for the first time after waking up from the coma. She is walking down the street, where she can see for example the poster of IKEA or pink lamp which belong to people coming from West, and she knows that it is something new and rather rare in the East.

Sigmund Jahn is a very important character, in which we can see a symbol of Ostalgie. When we first see him on the screen he is the first Eastern German who flew into space and that’s how Alex remembered him as Jahn was a hero for him. After unification however Alex meets him in person, and Jahn is just a simple cab driver. It may suggest that after the wall fell, changes in Germany were so rapid, and the Eastern Germany was dominated by West, so Jahn’s achievements were forgotten and from now on he had to live an ordinary life. As Barney says “The idealized GDR has shattered, showing one of its legends as a taxi driver, a typically ambivalent comment from GBL on the fall of the East and the ensuing disappointment with what the West has in store.” (Barney, 2009).

In “Good bye, Lenin!” Becker presents the past as something good and worth to remember. Ostalgie presented in the film plays very a big role, because it shows, that even though East Germany was not a perfect place to live, it was a place that shaped many German people. They way Becker portrayed the past, almost makes us feel what was is like to be an Eastern German, when everything was simpler and easier.  

Bibliography

Barney, T. (2009). When We Was Red: and Nostalgia for the “Everyday GDR” . Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 6(2), pp. 132-151.

The “Decalogue” is a ten part series directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski. It is loosely inspired by the Ten Commandmends. “Decalogue 1” is based on the first commandment “You shall have no other Gods before me”.  From the beginning, we can see how big impact the Catholicism has in here.

Our main character’s father, is not religious. More important for him, is science. But our main character Paweł, is very interested in religion. He’s curious about what’s happening after we die, what’s soul. He asks many questions such as “what’s the purpose of living” and “who’s God”. 

Life of our characters, seems to be very dark and sad. Colours emphasize it. They are  very cold, mainly blue and green. As Haltof says “ the ugliness and grayness of the dehumanized urban setting dominate the filming landscape, together with close-ups of the people who endure these harsh conditions”. It is very visible, in the scene, when Paweł’s father is sitting in his apartment after Paweł’s death. The room is filled with green light and we can see a close-up at his face without any emotion. (0:12 – 0:26)

 On the other hand every time, we see something God-connected, colours are changing. They become warm (lights in the church, bright orange folder with pictures of Pope).  I believe it is shown this way, because Catholicism was always very important in Polish culture. It gave people hope, especially, during hard times, such as occupation.

The Decalogue, was filmed after Martial law was lifted in Poland. And that was also the time, when Catholicism became more than just a religion. Church was also a place, where Polish people, could support each other. More than just this. It was a place, where they could support each other, in feeling Polish. As Agnieszka Holland said in one of the interviews “ And the Church in Poland was much more the place where the kind of national political identity prevailed than the place of deep intellectual, metaphysical discussion or training.” And “ Catholicism became then the kind of the place where the national feelings and the need of independence was something very strong”.

In The Decalogue 1, we can see a battle between rationalism and religion. Paweł’s aunt is very religious and his father believes only in science. After Paweł’s tragic death, his father destroys an altar. (also shown in very bright, warm colours) with the painting of Madonna. After he destroys it, Madonna starts to weep.  (2:10 – 2:40)

It may be a connotation to the first commandment. He stood up to God, and that was his punishment.

Bibliography:

Haltoff M. ,  The A-Z of Polish cinema, 2007, The Scarecrow Press, Plymouth, United Kingdom.

Interview with Agnieszka Holland
Retrieved from: http://www.facets.org/decalogue/holland.html

In this post, I will try to prove that German Expressionism in a film “Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” is more reliant on theatrical traditions and representations, rather than being purely cinematic form of expressionism. 

When I was watching “Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” for the first time, I’ve noticed the gloomy atmosphere that was achieved by Chiaroscuro lighting. It gives us the impression of a nightmare, fantasy.  As Styan says:

“Its atmosphere was often vividly dreamlike and nightmarish. This mood was aided by shadowy, unrealistic lighting and visual distortions in the set.”. (Styan, J L. 1981)

That was a typical technique for an expressionist play and this film is definitely based on it. In every minute it gives us the feeling of fear and anxiety. Another thing, that I’ve noticed. Is that “Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” was made in a very typical way for that times. It was made to make us feel. To gives us the feeling of paranoia, fear. At that times, plays in the theatre was based on the same theme. Viewers were supposed to feel instead of just giving them some spectacle to watch.

“he was not attempting to write what could be seen, only what he felt —nothing objective, all subjective.” (Styan J L. 1981).

Another thing, typical for theatre which we can also spot in this film is using painted canvas as a background and filming in the studio, instead of making the film outside. As we can see in 00:27-00:31 of the clip below, the mountains in the back are painted on a canvas, which proves my statement.

Acting itself was also very theatrical. It gives even an impression of “overacting”. I would compare this way of acting to puppetry.

“In avoiding the detail of human behaviour, a player might appear to be overacting, and adopting the

broad, mechanical movements of a puppet”. (Styan, J L. 1981).  

I think we can see this during the whole film. Actors don’t behave naturally. Their movements are not typical for a human being. They are very dramatic, very expressive, which is very typical for a theatre.

Theatre at that times was not about showing something real. It was more about fantasy, something exaggerated.  Actors were wearing costumes, that fit the décor. They were wearing a lot of makeup as well. All of these are typical for a theatre.

“The director and his scenic and lighting designers were afforded opportunities for creative experiment they had not known in the production of realistic drama”. (Styan J L. 1981).

I think Styan has a very good point here. Directors started to experiment, and in my opinion connected 2 worlds- theatre and film.  The effect is clearly seen in “Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”.

Styan, J L. (1981) “Expressionism and Epic Theatre” Modern Drama in Theory and Practice: Volume 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://assets.cambridge.org/97805212/27391/excerpt/9780521227391_excerpt.pdf

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