jantobi

For many of its audience, life in the GDR will not have been a personal experience. For its writer and director, it is all based on personal memory, and that shows. We look back to East German history, especially the story of its very modern fashion scene with magazines like Sibylle, and forward to what freedom means in such a society and for one personally.

From the start we can feel with the characters, whether its Suzie, the girl turning model after a photographer called Coyote takes a photo of her, or Rudi, the flamboyant designer, but also the unheroic father or the boss of the fashion magazine, both of whom have arranged themselves with what it takes to live in a totalitarian state. And as cliché-ridden as that sounds, the characters are very real and believable. The journey Suzie ges on is troublesome and seems exaggerated, but shows what life in East Germany also was, without being a film focussing too much on history. Its main topic, freedom in a society that does not allow for freedom, is shown very convincingly and lets the viewer understand the characters and root for them, although the fashion scene is vastly different from what most people will have as a workplace.

Great actors (Tambea as Rudi is wonderful) plus creativity in direction and montage make this a much better film than the (incorrect) summary on imdb suggests.

Saw the film at a presentation with the director and the stylist who was the Rudi character and was moved by how accurately the film shows both their experiences with oppression and freedom within such a state. Decidedly personal (and unpolitical), it is an extremely political film, but also very moving on a personal level.

It could have been good. Or maybe brilliant. The season after relegation was full of interesting and emotional developments, and it makes you wonder what the makers of Sunderland till I die would have come up with. Unfortunately, Werder Bremen made this themselves, and it shows. The staff, especially the coach are more one-dimensional than they probably really are (his motivational speeches are so dull it hurts). The players are interesting (Füllkrug), but there is hardly any ambiguity. Of all the turmoil we see very little (compare that to Sunderland till I die, where economic consequences of relegation are shown so clearly). And the fan is a nice person, but there must be some folks more interesting than him - we don't learn anything about him other than being a Werder supporter. And why only the one?

In a nutshell:: This is a bland run-of-the-mill documentary which should - and could - have been fascinating...