hyped garbage

A Masterpiece!

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

I am sure that those who have at least their childhood (like me) spent in a pseudo-socialist undemocratic country, would watch Sonnenallee with sense of recognition, with things most of us have probably aimed to forget. On the other hand, when you are young, minor, your perceptions are still different from those of adults, who are in need of living on and supporting their family. First love, new music, friendship, coming of age, hobbies, plans for future are universal. In my opinion, all those aspects are well and realistically (now one can giggle or laugh out these absurd things) depicted in this movie, with convincing performances by an even cast. By the way, the Soviets would have vacated all streets close to their "enemy", odd that it was possible to live so close to the Berlin Wall.Furtermore, I would disagree with them who think that Sonnenallee is a kind of glorification of the GDR. Really? For nonrenovated houses, constant shortage of even crumbling goods, brainwash by authorities, fear for police and "rats", strict punishments for harmless pranks, limited travel options, etc.? Those who do had apparently a "good" life at the expense of others...I can hardly guess how films like this would act upon the people unaware of socialist dictatorships. Perhaps they would regard them as unintelligent comedies. But the film in question could be shown more within the former Eastern bloc.

The film Sonnenallee is a comedy of the absurd humor type, a bit like the Monty Python stories. A sense of humor is always rather personal, and to be fair the fun in Sonnenallee is not my thing. Maladjusted fun feels weird, and this makes the conception of this review a somewhat precarious undertaking. In Sonnenallee everything is chaotic. The characters are ill-contrived and unpredictable. They move in all directions, without pattern. There is a scene, where the main character Micha suddenly strikes down his friend, for the simple reason that he has accepted this narrow-minded job. The events have no understandable coherence, but arbitrary hop on and off your screen. Evidently the fact that I watched the "extended" version did not allay the confusion. Does it reflect the existentialism of Sartre, which is actually hailed in the film itself? Or is it an attempted alliance with the Nouvelle Vague? The story unfolds in a quarter of East-Berlin, in an alley immediately behind the illustrious Wall. Although the Wall is a stage-property that dominates many of the scenes, it remains an object without meaning or significance. If there are witted allusions, they are lost on me. More obvious hints would help. An example of the incomprehensible character studies: Micha has no pangs of conscience to enlist in the people's army. In one of the scenes at the Wall he even threatens to shoot down tourists, that are peeping from the west side. But at the same time, he keeps a diary, in which he taunts the allegedly repressive nature of the Leninist state. There can be no doubt: he is mentally unstable. You can allege that Sonnenallee is about a youth troop, whose members are in the process of trying to discover their own identity. But the adults in Sonnenallee are just as all-out deranged as the kids. The mother of Micha plans to defect to the west, on her own, but reconsiders and allures and seduces her dull husband. Two visitors in Berlin, who at home can not receive the western TV broadcastings, are impressed by their glitter and for hours sit gazing at the test screen. Joke: where is the English Channel? Answer: I don't know, my TV does not pick it up. To be fair, not all is bunk. Yes, tall exaggerations can be fun. For instance, there is this scene, where a young guest from Vietnam makes an allocution before an audience of pupils, in her own exotic language. Naturally she almost disappears behind the reading-desk. At the end the audience reacts elated. And: the teacher is indignant, or should I write shocked, because Micha has peed in the direction of her beloved "anti-fascist protection barrier". Joke 2: did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher? She could not control her pupils. So let us allow for some amusing moments in Sonnenallee. But it could be more. I had all-time expectations, considering the awkward theme of the clash of ideologies. To be fair, Sonnenallee avoids the demagogic and self-conceited atmosphere, that is alloyed in Goodbye Lenin. If you enjoy kids being silly, the film Berlin Ecke Schönhauser of Defa Studios also narrates about a youth troop. In Berlin, yes. Pronounce: Bearleen. This film dives deep into the commonplace temptations of East and West, without becoming too censorious. The translation is not all-in, as usual with Ice Storm. Or see my other reviews.

When I saw this movie I was in Germany for a period of studying with my university, and in the first days I was there, we attended a small course to let us know something more about German culture... anyway, in those first days our teacher proposed to see this movie, because she thought it could be useful for us, and she was right!! I didn't understand all the things the characters said ( I didn't know so good the language at that time ), but I could understand the major situations and make myself a small idea of the atmosphere the people in East Berlin lived in... the great thing is that they make it not with a drama, but using irony, awkward situations and lots of fun!! I will see it soon again, but I recommend it to everybody if someone wants to laugh, but also to think a bit about the problems the totalitarianism brought with it. Ciao dall'Italia!!

I had absolutely no idea of what this film was about (other than that it was supposed to be a comedy of some sort) and therefore had hardly any grand expectations of it. A German movie? Right... well why not give it a try anyways... and what do you know, this film turned out to be an excellent one!Fresh, funny and tragic, full of lively acting (Thanks to great actors albeit rather unknown to bigger audience I presume), clever script and witty and eloquent dialogue. A sort of coming-of-age story in a disturbing setting which is not exactly the world of opportunities to say the least. Craving for something so bad it's about the only thing you live for (be that a new rock album, a girl you've fallen in love with or something else), rise of counter-culture idealism, loss of innocence, making important choices for the first time in your life (and having sex with more partners than with just yourself, heh).Altho an average American might think this story must have been a vastly exaggerated, it's not (I'm not of German origin either so I don't have a strong personal feel on the topics this picture deals with but I've read my share of history books so I dare to say I have the basic facts right in which to back myself up). Strip down the humorous elements and I bet you get what life pretty much was back then in the East-Germany. Strong censorship, limited freedom of speech (banned topics, one-party politics), one of the closest guarded boarder lines in the history of mankind with extremely thorough customs procedures etc etc.It now seems more than unbelievable that there once was a huge wall (and mind you people just 12 years back in history!) which divided a whole city in the middle thus separating an entire nation in two: to the rich west and the poor east. People in the East-Germany forced to live under the forever observing eyes of the Big Brother in the communists' utopia while the better-off people of the West-Germany lived the capitalists' dream...But still entire families were simultaneously torn apart, former friends and neighbors now living on the other side were seen as traitors and enemies of the state by both sides. The threat was always coming from "the other side" depending on which side you were living in! West-Germans looking down and pitying on their Eastern neighbor while East-Germans envy the western lifestyle but want to hold onto their pride. Common shared past is something you just can't wipe out altogether. Ridiculous times but unfortunately true nevertheless.I felt that this movie dealt with important issues and things which we should never forget. We all know it's easier to cope with difficult situations if you can filter them through humor and see something good and redeeming in most things rather than always seeing the worst in everything.Don't get me wrong this isn't a serious movies or hard one to watch per se (except for the ending)- it's great fun but if so desired a great opportunity to start a discussion. There were many outrageously funny scenes and on more than one occasion I burst out laughing out loud!I strongly recommend seeing this movie. Saved my day at least!