Two weird birds

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Two weird birds
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1989
length 104 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
Rod
Director Erwin Stranka
script Diethardt Schneider
production DEFA , KAG "Johannisthal"
music Tamás Kahane ,
Petty Cats ,
Karl-Ernst Sasse
camera Helmut Bergmann
cut Eva-Maria Schumann
occupation

Two weird birds is a DEFA film satire directed by Erwin Stranka in 1989 . It was one of the last DEFA films to be released in GDR cinemas before the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.

action

The Leipzig computer science students Peter Galetzki, called Kamminke, and Frank Lettau have developed a self-correcting computer program ("uniform system for troubleshooting and error correction for software") for their diploma thesis. The two are not only in love with the same woman, but are also close friends, so that the prospect of being separated by the employment agency after completing their studies provokes a rash confrontation with the university management. Your thesis will be tested on the computer-based room distribution at the University of Leipzig . Because of the exaggerated demands of the responsible clerk in terms of space utilization and conscious acceptance of the conflicting requirements ( requirements management ), the test ends in a hopeless (programmed) mess in the university process.

So provoked, the two are now deported to the deepest province to the VEB spur gears in the small, remote town of Finsterberg-Dodeleben in Thuringia . Here they should prove themselves in production.

In Finsterberg-Dodeleben they not only get to know the beautiful clerk Petra, with whom they both fall in love, but also the production processes in the planned economy . They're ineffective. Although the company has a brand new high-tech CNC machine , the machine lacks the appropriate software so that it cannot be put into operation. Kamminke and Frank are also not allowed to enter the facility because they are under probation. On New Year's Eve , with Petra's help, they secretly break into the rooms and write a new program for the production facility, which would otherwise have turned into a million dollar investment for the company. You are almost caught by the company security, who ignorantly takes the only backup copy on a "record" ( 5.25 ″ diskette ) and switches off the computer. While the general manager of the company confronts the workforce at a meeting of the non-fulfillment of the plan for software development, the responsible department head discovers the functionality of the software. Since you cannot punish the three for their 'successful failure' under the eyes of the superiors who have specially traveled from Berlin, you simply turn them into a young researcher collective . The presentation of the functioning system at the Leipzig trade fair completes the absurd round of events thanks to the computer program of the two Japanese computer experts who had traveled there.

production

Two weird birds was filmed from 1988 to 1989 in Großbreitenbach , among others . The film premiered on September 12, 1989 in the Kammerlichtspiele cinema in Cottbus and was released in GDR cinemas on September 22, 1989. In October 2005 it was released on DVD by Icestorm. Originally released only from 12 years of age, the SPIO released the 94-minute DVD version in 2005 without age limit.

With the exception of the invented CNC machine, the film shows several real computer systems from GDR production: A 16-bit robotron K 1630 small computer is located in the institute of the University of Leipzig . A 16-bit robotron A 7100 workstation computer acts as the terminal . The programming language shown is BASIC . A parallel printer Videoton VT27090 is in the background . A robotron K 1630 and an A 7100 are also located in the computing station of VEB Stirnräder Finsterberg-Dodeleben. The CAD system is probably the CAD program GEDIT / M16, which was developed at the Technical University of Leipzig (THL).

criticism

Criticism from the GDR praised the film as a successful comedy. Reviewer Henryk Goldberg saw the film in full cinema, “Laughter from the crowd, applause from the scene, applause at the end - produced by the VEB DEFA studio for feature films. That's why I'm leaving all the aesthetic perks that are so dear to me and congratulating the director Erwin Stranka and the author Diethardt Schneider ”.

The film dienst called Zwei oblique birds an "entertaining satirical comedy with a realistic background, but with optimistic solutions that ultimately expose the film as affirmative propaganda."

reception

Since the film contains numerous insider jokes about grievances and rituals from working life and politics, it quickly became a cult film in East Germany . The film shows, exaggerated in cabaret and satirical style, the problems of everyday and professional life in the GDR, some of which have never been shown in a DEFA film before. Things like rent debts or the existence of a parallel currency ( forum check ) were taboo topics in the GDR . Even if the basic attitude of the film is ultimately conciliatory, the absurdities of everyday life in the GDR are pointedly exposed, but without showing any real solutions.

In the interview with the main actors published as DVD bonus material, they mention the absurd situation that during the celebrated premiere of the basically system-critical film in Leipzig, the demonstrations against the GDR, which were violently ended by the state power, were taking place in front of the door of the film theater.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Release certificate for two weird birds . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , August 2005 (PDF; test number: 103 266 DVD).
  2. ↑ Friedhelm Greis: With eroticism and cybernetics into perfect chaos. GDR hacker film Two weird birds. Golem, September 12, 2014, accessed November 26, 2019 .
  3. ^ Henryk Goldberg: ... but successful . In: Filmspiegel , No. 21, 1989, p. 14.
  4. ↑ Two weird birds. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used