The truth about the Stasi
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The truth about the Stasi |
 | |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1992 |
| length | 50 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alexander Zahn |
| script | Alexander Zahn |
| production | Eckard Stuewe |
| music | Christian Lorenz |
| camera | Eckard Stuewe |
| cut | Alexander Zahn |
| occupation | |
| |
The Truth About the Stasi is a German low-budget film from 1992. The setting for the satirical comedy is the GDR in 2008. It was directed by Alexander Zahn . The first version from 1992 was considered lost and was found and revised in 2008 by former members of the dissident group Working Group 1 . A pre-premiere of the new version was held on 10 May 2008 at Berlin cinema Tilsiter Lichtspiele instead.
The film is a satire on the political and intellectual conditions in the GDR at the end of the 80s. In particular, the opposition and state security are so closely intertwined in the film that they can hardly be separated. The Minister for State Security, Erich Mielke , continues to head the Stasi as Comrade General , albeit in an obviously demented state.
The music for the film came from the later Rammstein keyboarder Flake as well as various East German bands and musicians.
action
The GDR in 2008 - one year before the 60th anniversary of its foundation. According to the presentation by Comrade Eberlein on the XXVI. At the SED party congress on May 21, 2008, mistakes and irritations of the past were finally overcome: "So we can say shortly before the end of the contingent - GDR 60 - and one year before the big birthday: Our GDR has grown up."
A young woman spies on her lover, who in turn spies on her. After sex, the man telephones his officer in charge while she bags and sends the condom. The programs Current Camera and MfS Intern are on television . A four-person youth brigade from the steel combine " Johannes R. Becher " reports on their successes in founding and later breaking up opposition groups within the company. In Normannenstrasse, the head of HA / VI, Captain Clementz, complains about the lack of success in the latest actions and is already preparing for mining work or Siberia. In Prenzlauer Berg there is a conspiratorial poetry reading with bearded opposition members, after the event the poet reports instantly to his commanding officer. A young music band plays in the main building for the edification of Captain Clementz, the two officers on a special mission fend off the intrusion of two bearded opposition members in a Trabant into the Stasi premises.
In the meantime , "the best man in NSW " travels non- stop abroad through the world, from Mexico to Rome and London and back to the Spree. A suitcase with a bomb has been slipped under him, which is supposed to turn him off, but is mistaken for another traveler at Rome airport and taken away. The agent travels back to Berlin, where he accidentally drowns.
At the end of the day, the old man - the general - celebrates his birthday, all members of the opposition and officers find themselves in the wet and happy orgy in the main office. The two officers on a special mission have to fend off an opposition intrusion again, they have an accident and are looked after by the helpful bearded people.
Locations
The film was shot at the original location in the former main building of the Ministry for State Security in Berlin-Lichtenberg , at that time the research and memorial site Normannenstrasse as well as in Berlin-Mitte and Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg .
motivation
Director Alexander Zahn about his experiences with the state security:
“The GDR was a very serious country, everything, including the opposition, was so incredibly bitter. But you could actually laugh about it in the 80s. Just that nobody noticed. I thought it was the best thing that could have happened to be young in a country that has imploded so [...]. And especially when you're young, it's great when you have some kind of authoritarian father who you can rebel against, who is also a bit senile - then that's perfect, perfect youth actually. It had nothing to do with heroism, it was just really funny to stand up against something. [...] Once we wanted to make a short film, just completely surreal, about legs on Alexanderplatz . So we turned our legs to Super8 and thought of something completely non-political. And suddenly our cameraman was gone. I turn around and think: It doesn't exist, why is it gone now? Then a gentleman in civilian clothes suddenly said to me: 'Well, he was taken away to clarify a matter.' Really - he was just standing next to me, and now he's suddenly gone, completely Kafka-esque. Then they took it and brought it to Keibelstrasse. Then they developed the film and cut out parts. We pondered a lot afterwards [...] - then at some point we noticed: there were uniform legs there, they cut them out very neatly, and in the evening at 6 p.m. we got the developed film back, but without the uniform legs.
At that time, this Stasi glorification started right after the fall of the Wall. That started at some point, I don't even know when, but shortly after people were walking around and calling Stasi into production! . It then happened that the Stasi was portrayed as the big, dangerous monster. But that was the Stasi self-view! That was Mielke's idea, for example from Chekists , tough guys, sword and shield of the party. But that was the self-view! That it was in reality a total cucumber troop, some kind of administration, and it was highly ineffective - but then the formation of legends started, you could already see that at the time. We actually wanted to do something about it. Bringing the ridiculousness of this troop to the fore, including this involuntary comedy that this Stasi had. So we thought: Now let's do a comedy about the Stasi. And a really nasty one that doesn't take it seriously at all, doesn't take the GDR opposition seriously either - none of them. That was actually the motivation to make the film, we just wanted to do something really nice and weird where people can get excited. "
reception
The documentary Poesie des Untergrunds (D 2009, director: Matthias Aberle) uses numerous excerpts from the film.
In his dissertation The "Stasi" as a place of remembrance in the united Germany 1990-2010 (2011) Frank Lothar Nicht writes:
“A closer look at the sources reveals yet another, earlier example of sympathy for the Stasi - perhaps the most touching in its absurdity. Ironically, the film satire The Truth About the Stasi , produced in 1992, opens up at least the perspective of pity. As already described, the plot of the film is shaped by the idea that in 2008 the penetration of society by the Stasi will be completed and that the opposition, as a separate department of the Stasi, will secure the raison d'etre for the secret police. Correspondingly, the Stasi officers and the opposition members pass the day with field games and rather ridiculous games of hunt. The film ends with a 'chase' between OibEs and bearded members of the opposition, as they were a pastime of the actors in the fictional GDR in 2008. During such an off-road game, an accident occurs at the end of the film, the OibEs car overturns and the occupants are injured. In the last shot you can see how rushed opposition members care for the wailing victims. The camera is slowly moving away from this scene with almost biblical force. Even if the setting is deeply ironic - after all, `` colleagues '' help each other here in a certain way - she designs a disempowerment of the Stasi without violence or militant pathos. [...] The Berlin film artists around Alexander Zahn are largely unsuspicious of theological motives, but perhaps their way of dealing with the Stasi is the most powerful. "
Web links
- The truth about the Stasi in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The whole film on YouTube
- Website for the Tilsiter Lichtspiele film
- Underground poetry absolutely media
- The "Stasi" as a place of remembrance in the united Germany 1990-2010 Tectum Verlag
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview with Alexander Zahn: From the documentary Poesie des Untergrunds (D 2009, director: Matthias Aberle)
- ^ Frank Lothar Not: The "Stasi" as a place of remembrance in the united Germany 1990-2010 . Tectum Verlag, Marburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8288-2797-4