Compassion through the Lens of Contemporary German Films John Harley Compassion and the utilitarian German culture at first seem diametric opposites to the Westerner. But, people are people and they care for each other, their causes, and their countries. Three contemporary German films are reviewed in order to better understand current and historic perspectives of German life through the compassions emoted through each film. The films, selected based on class studies, include:

 Comedian Harmonist – A Broadway styled film that portrays the rise of a popular German music group, The Harmonist, in the late 1920s, their struggle to achieve, the rewards of success, and finally their fall, being destroyed by Nazi politics.  No Where in Africa – A picture-book styled epic told through the memories of a teenage girl that portrays the struggles of a Jewish family that flees early-Nazi Germany, giving up a life of privilege, to live in the remote farmlands of rural Kenya over the period encompassing World War II.  Goodbye Lenin – A situational comedy set during the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall that tells of a son’s efforts to protect his mother’s fragile health from the news of the wall’s fall after she awakens from a comma. Each film is primarily a study in social relationships and the personal and interpersonal conflicts that can result in times of pressure. The geopolitical impacts of major changes in German culture and politics, the rise of Nazi sentiments and the transitional state of the German Democratic Republic (GRD), i.e. - East Germany, at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall act as backdrops to the stories. These political upheavals and associated cultural transitions drive the plots as individuals struggle to maintain some semblance of consistency in their lives as the forces of patriotism, self-survival and the social unit entity pull in different directions. Comedian Harmonist is a fictionalized biographical film telling the story of the Comedian Harmonists, the musical sextet that achieved enormous popularity in Germany as the waning Weimar Republic gave way to Hitler and anti-Semitism. The movie spends some time on the formation of the group, their early problems during rehearsal and eventual development of their musical identity. This provides ample time for the characters to emerge as individuals before the event-heavy main story begins. Harry Frommermann, a comical-looking failure as an actor but a talented musical arranger, conceives of forming a German equivalent of the popular American a capella group the Revellers. Frommermann, a Jew, is conducting auditions when a strong bass singer, Robert Biberti, enters and leads him to hire the eventual group of talented singers, including Ari Leschnikoff, Erich Collin, and Roman Cyckowski, as well as a pianist, Erwin Bootz. After a long time of rehearsing and failures "The Comedian Harmonists", as the group calls themselves become disheartened and begin to blame each other and Harry’s direction, “Harry, each of us is good but not good enough to insult the others”. Approaching the point of giving up, Erwin plays a musical piece more upbeat, inspiring the group to continue the practicing and resulting in the development of their brilliant singing style and talent to imitate music instruments so well that the audience gets the impression of listening to a whole orchestra playing when the only real instrument is the piano. The movie uses re-mastered, stylish renditions of the lively, funny and sentimental songs from the original group throughout the story that illustrates the great talent and potential of this group. The music flows and the rewards of success, women and Champaign, follows even as the growth of Hitler and Nazi Nationalism becomes increasing prevalent. Numerous subplots, coupled with the pressing political climate, keep the film from becoming a European version of Hollywood musicals that track the rise of some poor musician who struggles against the odds to realize his vision. Mini story lines include snippets from the six members' private lives. Two of them - Frommermann and Biberti - are in love with the same girl, Erna, who works in a music shop. The Aryan piano player, Erwin Bootz, is married to a Jewish woman, and as the tide of anti-Semitism grows, he becomes fearful that his connection with her will place his life and prosperity in danger. And another, Cycowski, convinces his non-Jewish girlfriend to convert so they can be married. But, the bulk of the movie contrasts the rewards of their success with growing pressures from the authorities to get rid of the three Jews in the group and to perform material more fitting to National Socialism. The success of The Comedic Harmonists is the subtle manner in which the political story gradually darkens and is folded into the intimate individuals’ lives and decisions. When the group is beginning, Hitler is just one of many vying for power, and there is no sense that the Jews are in any particular danger. Greenbaum, the owner of music shop where Erna work says, “It’s just some kids. If you’re out of work you get into mischief … we still live in Germany. There is law and order here and it will stay that way”, after their store is vandalized by Nazis in uniform. But, as the years pass, the growing racial tension becomes an obvious threat. Those members of Hitler's staff who once enjoyed the group's music eventually turn their backs on the sextet. This rise in Nationalism is symbolized by effective use of the size of the swastika portrayed in public venues to emphasize this point. In the beginning, it is small and innocuous. By the time of the Comedian Harmonists' final performance in Munich, it has become a huge eyesore - an ominous backdrop to the entire stage. Work pressures and the political and cultural strain presses individual and group emotions to their limit. The group struggles to stay together, to keep working, and even to remain in their homes. A trip to the United States at the height of their success seriously tempts some of the Jewish members to abandon their German homes. But, the group decides to return -- one for all and all for one -- to German soil, their homes, and their women convinced that Nazism is only a passing aberration. Upon their return, the story quickly darkens as Nazi edicts force the group's three Jewish members into exile after a final concert in Munich in 1934. Harry’s final speech to the audience in Munich, “… three of us six will have to say good-bye to you, our fans … and to Germany. I'm reminded of the lyrics to one of the many songs we've sung in so many concerts over the years. And we've sung them for one reason only: to give our fans a little pleasure. The lyrics go like this, "Somewhere in the world there's a little bit of luck and that's what I dream of every moment. Somewhere in this world there's a little piece of happiness and I've been dreaming of it for a long, long time. If I knew where it was then I'd go out into the world because I want to be truly happy more than anything else." The group disbands after the concert and ending epilogue notes tell us the original members reconstituted as two ensembles, one performing in Germany and one elsewhere. The movie leaves us wondering what might have been for this talented group if political racism had not intervened. No Where in Africa is based on Stefanie Zweig's autobiographical novel that is set on location in Western Kenya and tells of a complicated and complex journey of people searching for their own purpose and meaning in life and finally, in a roundabout way, finding it. The story begins and ends in Germany, beginning pre World Waste II (WWII) and ended with a return back to Germany post WWII. Each member of the Redlich family travels this path physically and emotionally on separate arcs until they synchronize in the end. In 1937, the non-orthodox Jewish German lawyer Walter Redlich, aware of the growing Nazi movement in Germany and how its jeopardy to the Jews in his country, moves alone to Nairobi, Kenya, to establish a livelihood as an administrator on a British farm. In 1938, he summons his spoiled wife, Jettel Redlich, and their young daughter, Regina, to follow him. The once shy Regina easily adapts to her new lifestyle, but the pampered Jettel does not easily adapt to her new condition of poor expatriated woman in Africa. Walter and Regina adapt to their lives on the farm with Regina losing her shyness, befriending the natives and learning their ways While months later Jettel remains unhappy with their lack of plush surroundings and complains that she needs meat and is tired of eating "slop”. This infuriates Walter who tell her that they escaped Germany in the nick of time; the Nazi's had raided Jewish residences, businesses and synagogues and had sacked them all. This begins Jettel’s recognition that Walter might have been right in his assessment that they had to leave Germany and that the Nazi's looked at the Jews as subhuman. Within the year, Walter and Regina and Jettel begin to really adjust and live as a family, and then war fully breaks out between the British and Nazi Germany. All Germans living in British holdings, including Jews, are imprisoned in internment camps. Walter was sent to a work camp while Jettel and Regina were sent to another camp that turned out to be a 5-star resort, separating the family again and throwing their lives out of synch. While in the resort, Jettel realizes the need for family and succumbs to sex in order to get Walter a job on a new farm so that they can be reunited. However, on the new farm Walter and Jettel have relationship problems as he begins to suspect Jettel may have been unfaithful in order to provide his release. This, accompanied with his rapidly growing embitterment towards Germany, lead him down a further path of despair and desolation. In contract Jettel is accepting her life as woman of the farm and begins to enjoy her African surroundings and the day to day life that comes with it. In time, with Regina sent away to a British school to “learn a proper education”, Walter and Jettel struggle to find themselves back in love. But they are soon separated again when Walter joins a British army troop to fight against the Nazi's and Jettel assumes Walter's responsibility as head of the farm. While Walter is away, Jettel develops a newly found respect for her husband and his efforts to keep the family safe and together. She also comes to recognize that faith and ethnicity have nothing to do with the perception of the outside world when they refuse to see you as human. “Tolerance doesn't mean that everyone is the same. That'd be stupid. What I've learned here is how valuable differences are. Differences are good. And intelligent people will never hold it against you.” When Walter returns from the War, he informs her that their family is dead and that he has been chosen to return to Germany to start a new western government. In 1946, he receives his commission to go back and must prepare his family for their return. Neither Regina nor Jettel take this news well as they have both immersed themselves in the culture as he had when he first arrived in Africa. The roles of husband and wife had now been reversed, as she was finally happy as the proprietor of their farm instead of missing their former plush life in Germany and with him wishing to return to it. After nine years in Africa, even with the memory of the Holocaust so cruel and so vivid, Walter argues for a return to Germany, "This country saved our lives," he tells Jettel, "but it isn't our country." Torn between love for country and love for family, the Redlich’s chose each other and Germany. The family boards a train for the return trip, thus coming full circle in their quest for a new life and having found it, being able to return to their old one; this time with their lives in synch. Goodbye, Lenin! is a comedic drama set in 1989 in East Berlin. The story centers on a son’s love for his mother, and the extraordinary steps he goes through to protect her from news of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Christiane Kerner, is left alone to take care of their two adolescent children, Arianne and Alex, after she claims her husband runs off in 1978 to freedom and another woman in the west. After a stay in the hospital for depression, a voiceover explains that eight weeks later Christiane was back home and was back to normal. She packs up her husband’s clothes and sends them to Mozambique and he “was never mentioned again”. She “marries” socialism as a symbol of anger toward her husband. The voiceover says that she has become a social crusader and activist for the concerns of common people and tiny injustices. She is shown directing a choir of children and being involved with various youth activities. A news report about special government award winners shows Christiane receiving her award for devote service and shaking hands with the presenter. This introduction to the Kerners and their humble life illustrates Christiane’s maternal qualities and her sincere embrace of her politics that provides explanation and insight into Alex’s love and the need to protect his mother from Germany’s reunification. Forward to October 7, 1989 -- the 40th anniversary of the GDR -- when, as Alex relates in a cynical voiceover (a technique used throughout the film, to some excess, in order to advance the story line), a huge number of East Berliners "marched for the right to take walks without a wall getting in the way." During the violent rioting that follows, Christiane sees Alex being hauled off by police. As a result, she suffers a heart attack and goes into a coma for about eight months. While in her coma, Germany drastically changes with the Wall coming down and the imminent official reunification of East and West into one. The Kerner's personal lives also undergo radical changes as aspects of the new found capitalist world become prevalent. Arianne goes to work at a sparkling new Burger King, while Alex moves from TV repair to satellite dish installation. The old East Berlin is quickly stripped away and replaced with western symbols, including the prevalent Coke sign. When Christiane emerges from her coma eight months later, her health situation is still tenuous and doctors believe that any shock she experiences could possibly lead to another heart attack and certain death. To protect his mother, Alex decides not to tell her of the new Germany in which they live. He feels he can protect her and control exposure of the changes at home. Although most around him do not support the idea - including Arianne and Lara (Alex's Russian immigrant girlfriend who is also Christiane's nurse) - they reluctantly go along with the extreme, and comical, measures Alex goes to recreate the old East Germany in their home. What starts as the simple ruse of restoring the drab East German decor to her room in their flat escalates into a full-blown charade. From food to clothes to currency to fake East German news broadcasts, the race is on to recreate the trappings of an entire way of life that is in the process of rapidly disappearing outside the room. The funniest scenes evolve from Christiane’s simple request to watch the news. Initially, Alex is able to comply by playing tapes of pre-unification news shows on a VCR hidden from view. But soon, his mother begins noticing inexplicable things that require explanation, such as a red communist banner being replaced by a Coke sign right outside her window. So Alex has to get creative, staging a newscast with a fake anchorman cheerfully announcing that Coke turns out to have been an East German invention. Much later in the movie, Christiane leaves her room, takes an elevator down (and notices a Nazi symbol and lewd graffiti on the wall), and leaves the building. A group of young Western men are moving in, perplexing her. She wanders further away from the building and notices IKEA branding and advertisements for bras and cars. A helicopter carries a large statue of Lenin away, i.e. - Goodbye Lenin! Another fake news segment is produces to explain that the GDR is allowing West German refugees to enter the East as a token of generosity, promising 200 marks for every refugee entering the country. In a voiceover, Alex realizes that the GDR he is creating in his TV segments is the GDR “for which he might have wished”. In the hospital, after Christiane’s condition significantly worsens, the ruse becomes too much and without Alex’s ever knowing, Lara, Alex’s girlfriend and Christiane’s nurse, tells her of the political changes that have occurred. Alex, also, finally realizes that he should tell his Mother the truth, but wants to celebrate East Germany one last time, giving it the send-off it deserves. Another faux news segment is produced to say that the GDR has reach out to West Germany to make it better and has opened up the borders. Alex is the only one unaware of his Mother’s up-to-date understanding of Germany, as other hold back their laughs. Three days later, Christiane dies. Alex still believes that she never learned the truth and that this is a good thing because she died happy. In a voiceover laid over archival footage, Alex says, “The country my mother left behind was a country she believed in; a country we kept alive till her last breath; a country that never existed in that form; a country that, in my memory, I will always associate with my mother.” The film uses a sense of humor to contrast both the good and bad of capitalism and communism. Capitalism splashes corporate symbols on top of history while the grim conditions of life under communism are juxtaposed with a true believer’s values and faded memories of the difficulties of days past. The failure of Communism is mourned without completely ignoring the realities that made its demise necessary. Nostalgia for the environs of our past, even if knowingly jaded, produces strong emotional ties that are hard to abandon. A son’s love continues an idealistic nostalgic reflection of home for his mother, pretending a world still exists that she believes in but from which he has moved away. This same sentiment carries over to the writers and directors of each of these contemporary films. While each film takes place in fascinating periods in German history that provide ample opportunities to highlight the troubles and evils of their time, all three films choice to directly avoid the harshness of the true realities of their current situation. While not abandoning the political environment, it is kept in the background and only allowed to color and occasionally poke the personal interactions of the characters. Nazism had devastating effects on many lives. However, the impact felt by the members of the Comedian Harmonists was much subtler than that felt by many others whose adversities were avoided in the film. The Redlich family is in Africa far away and isolated from the atrocities of Nazi persecution in Germany and the bloodshed of World War II. Alex Kerner pulls the best from the past Socialist State and creates a GDR “for which he might have wished”. The movies did not sugar coat their political environments, but did keep the worst of the times at arm’s length focusing on the social aspects of the character’s personal and interpersonal lives. How would these films have played in German if increased emphasis was placed on the wrongs of their past politics? Is it not easier to soften the message to protect national pride? As pointed out in an extract from a fake news cast in Goodbye Lenin!, “We know our country is not perfect. Maybe we have drifted off course from time to time. But, we collected ourselves … to make the world a better place.” As each key character in each of the three films come to realize, home and country carry strong emotional bonds. These sentiments are also comprehended, even if unconsciously, by the production staffs of each film. People are people; they care for each other, their causes, and their countries.