The "Berlin Wall" in the movie is a scar that is difficult to heal

■ Zhou Jianglin

"Freedom has many difficulties, and democracy is not perfect, yet we have never built a wall to keep our people in it and not allow them to leave us." John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, delivered a speech on June 25, 1963, in front of the Berlin Wall at West Germany's City Hall. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, which meant the end of the Cold War between East and West and the reunification of West and East Germany.

Different ideologies led to the division of Germany into two countries, 28 years of separation, and how many families, relatives and friends were forced to separate. "Loss of homeland" or "loss of country" is defined by Edward Said as "exile" or "displacement", expressed in the film as pain, incurable scars and "insurmountable grief".

Eavesdropping Storm:

Accusation or rescue?

"In the statistical office on The Hans-Baimler Street, everything is counted, everything is known... But there is one thing they don't count, and perhaps even the most bureaucratic people will find it unbearable, and that is the number of suicides... In 1977, our country stopped counting suicides, and everyone called them 'self-murderers', but this had nothing to do with murder, no blood, no passion, only dead silence, all thoughts were gray. This is an article published by dervised playwright Dreyman in der Spiegel's weekly magazine over the Berlin Wall commemorating suicide by director Eska.

In East Germany, perhaps only ignorant children could not be afraid of the secret police. In East Germany in 1984, the secret police Weissmann was ordered to eavesdrop on the lives of playwright Dremann and his wife, actress Chrissy, who meticulously recorded every detail of the writer's life, including sex. During the eavesdropping, Weissmann began to be moved by some sincere feelings.

The security services took Chrissy and began to detain her for interrogation. Out of fear and cowardice, Chrissy was forced to betray her husband and give up the hidden location of the key evidence typewriter. Weissmann took the typewriter away in advance and saved Dreyman. A remorseful Chrissy rushed out of the house and collided with an oncoming car and died.

Two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the tone of the film shifts from iron gray to a warm bright yellow, reflecting the overall symbolism. As he flipped through the wiretap materials, Dreyman finally learned the truth and gave TheLeman a gift to the unknown Dreyman— to publish a book called The Sonata of the Good Men.

Eavesdropping Storm not only retains the strong critical nature of the "new German film" and the combination of the "popular drama" model, recreates the collective memory and traumatic experience of the GDR, and conveys the reflection of the euphoric East German filmmakers on history and the tragedy of life in it.

Goodbye, Lenin:

The "Red World" in the room

After her husband fled to West Germany, Kona, a passionate Member of the East German Communist Party, devoted all her energies to her party and a pair of children, and raised and educated them strictly according to socialist requirements.

In the film, major historical events and the coincidence of the simple ignorance of the parties are combined to form a strong cold humor. In the autumn of 1989, while eating an apple, Alex was surrounded by crowds to join the demonstration against the East German government, and the police who surrounded him arrested the innocent Alex in a prison cart in the panic of his mother. Kona suddenly suffered a heart attack and passed out. During her unconscious time, the Berlin Wall fell and the GDR disintegrated.

When Kona wakes up, the doctor tells her son Alex that any stimulation will be fatal. So the son had to hide the truth, and in their apartment, he tried his best to perform a mirror image of the prosperity of East Germany, from food to clothing, and even fake TV news, although the outside world has long been changed, but in this small world history seems to have stagnated, or the son is rewriting and creating history through his love for his mother.

In the film, Kona accidentally goes to the street, but encounters a helicopter hanging a huge bust of Lenin at a low altitude, and this surrealist design is emotional. Kona's image represents the deep-seated nostalgic side of the East Germans for an orderly life, as well as the strong side of ordinary people who have struggled to live under totalitarian rule for 50 years.

"Goodbye, Lenin", with its sensual charm of "humor with tears", is more like a light comedy, the dislocation of characters and the times and the resulting comedy and absurdity bring pleasure to the audience. At the end of the film, Kona's ashes are sent to the sky by a rocket model, and the voiceover is Alex's happiness for his mother who died in the illusion of a bygone era.

The Promise:

Reunions from east to west

"The Promise" is a relatively complete picture of the process by which East Germany built the Berlin Wall, the burning flame of freedom and the desire for national unity to overthrow the Berlin Wall.

Overnight, the Berlin Wall was erected and many families were separated. The indecisiveness of the scientist Conrad makes the fate of the individual always at the mercy of others. Because the waiting sister did not seize the opportunity to escape to West Germany by drilling the sewers, she lost her lover Sofia. When threatened to send him to prison by a lustful colleague, he always backed down until he found himself tricked into being an accomplice to his brother-in-law's murder, and he threw his fists, only to be immediately reduced to a boilermaker.

When her lover Sofia made an application to return to East Germany with her children, Conrad pointed out the window to watch the secret police and told her not to let her children live in such a free country.

While the film directly describes the suffering, it designs an unexpected scene at the end, gently erasing the heavy suffering. Conrad, returning home from work, found countless people huddled on the streets, the Berlin Wall being torn down with ease, and a family suddenly coming together.

The film has a strong plot - Harold, who is driven to West Germany, meets West German wanderers who extort money from their compatriots from East Germany as soon as they cross the line. So Harold tried to cross the border, return to the familiar East Germany, and restart his efforts for unification. Harold, who showed with his hands raised in the air, was shot dead by border guards.

East of the Berlin Wall:

Artificial barriers are more difficult to overcome

Felix, who lives in West Berlin, and Thomas in East Berlin are a pair of gay people, although they are only separated by a few miles and meet once, they need to go through the road checkpoints, layers of scrutiny, and often fail to do so. The pain of the two can be imagined, and the greater suffering lies in the hidden fear in their hearts.

The plot of the film can be summarized in just a few words: a trip, a chance encounter, falling in love at first sight, falling in love, separating two places, painful thoughts, breaking through for love, the future is uncertain... The choreographer perfunctorily turned such a simple story into a half-hour film, and the first half of the film resembled a silent film, telling the acquaintance process of the two protagonists in a large part of background music. There is no definite ending to the film, but there is no need to be sad at all, because two years after the film's release, the Two Germans were unified, the Berlin Wall was torn down, and Felix and Thomas no longer had to suffer the pain of separating the two places.

Life in Berlin:

The pathos of a small life

In July 1989, the East German panzer Martin was sentenced to 11 years in prison for manslaughter. While he was serving his sentence, the Berlin Wall was torn down and Germany was unified... 11 years later, Martin is released from prison, a whole new world is in front of him, can he adapt to a new life?

Martin, who has reached middle age, faced with more than 20 forms handed over by social security officials in one breath, his heart was full of great confusion and loss. When Martin was idle on the street, he saw someone about to jump off the building, he went up to dissuade him, only to find that it was his former friend. One acquaintance after another was met with a thick sense of nostalgia and endless complaints. After Martin was released from prison, he found that his wife and son had found another home, and he could not find a suitable place in society, so he drank a drink at his wife's new home in depression. At the table, he borrowed wine to vent many of the injustices he had seen since he was released from prison, and he deeply sighed for his incompatibility with the times.

West Berlin Love Song:

A noir drama that ridicules the wind

In 1989, turbulent winds blew the Berlin Wall to a screeching halt, and the upheaval wind blew into the red-light district west of the wall, confusing Lyman. Thirty years old, will he continue to live a life full of drugs, alcoholism, homosexuality, and alternative literature?

At this juncture, the father and mother came to visit, and Lyman could only borrow his friend Carl's restaurant to dress as a manager, so that his parents were pleased with the success of their careers. At the same time, the peach blossom luck also bloomed, and Lyman and the kitchen lady Catelyn collided with the spark of love. Next, Lyman was ordered by his mother to return to his hometown to help his relatives and friends.

Lyman had a hard time returning to Berlin, thinking that he was relieved, but he did not expect that everything began to change when he returned to Berlin: there were demonstrators gathered under the Berlin Wall, and Carl urgently needed his help to open the exhibition, and at this moment, Catelyn fell in love with someone else.

The eventful autumn of Lehmann is the epitome of Berlin, on the surface everything is good, but behind it is an imperceptible bleakness and helplessness. "West Berlin Love" is full of ridicule, and this absurd feeling of life is reflected in a black dramatic effect.

(The author is editor-in-chief of Life in the Air and avant-garde theatre critic)