today, i went to the movies with rajnikant; "the reader" is in the cinemas since friday here in india. having discussed and analyzed the book in detail as a student of german, he wanted to see if the film could make it up to the book's story. i just wanted to go because the story sounded interesting. of course, i have not read the book.
before the film started, the entire audience was asked to rise for the national anthem of india. no kidding, the whole theatre stared at the indian flag on the screen; nobody even dared to move.
to make a long story short, i cannot but recommend this film. great story, great places, great actors. after "revolutionary road", "the reader" proved once again that kate winslet becomes more beautiful the older she gets. besides that, it was kind of strange to sit in an sold out movie theatre with only indians around, watching a film whose story takes place in germany. even more strange, however, that those two hours reminded me insistently that i am nothing but german, no matter how far away from home i am or how much i enjoy being abroad. yeah, that is us, look at how neat and structured everything was in germany already in the fiftees... also, the crowd almost broke into laughter when, towards the end of the movie, the "little apartment" michael rents for hanna is shown. "pure luxury what you germans call little" was what i understood.
after the movie, india quickly hauled me back into its reality with the heat, the unorganized chaos (no typo!), and the dirty streets. but there was something else pointing out that i was not at home here: still discussing the nuremberg trials with rajnikant, i spotted a book on display in the store right next to the movie theatre. "adolf hitler, mein kampf. with rare photographs."
ti-bob
Sunday, March 22, 2009
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Yes, the trailer looks very promising. I think I'll watch it if the WOKI takes it into it's program.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I cannot agree to is that Kate Winslet becomes more beautiful with her age. Or maybe she's just not old enough, yet. ;)
I never liked her acting much, that's probably the cause.
And what to say about Mein Kampf... Despite of the "Rare Photographs" teaser, I don't think there's anything wrong with being able to buy this book. IMHO, Germany is a little to strict about this ban. Not that I would think that this book contains anything worth reading, but that is exactly my point. I'd like to see german schools reading and discussing it. I'd like to see every german pupil, every german citizen right up from the very start what a peace of shit this book is, what ill-faded thoughts and ideas are buried within this thing.
My dear husband, don't worry, we'll show The Reader ;)
ReplyDeleteConsidering Mein Kampf - openly discussed it would decrease the - by youngsters - often misinterpreted political and social "dogma" which clearly did not and does not stand behind what we categorize as the National Socialist Ideology.
I think picking apart this book could help minimize this huge ghost of fear we, as Germans, still carry within us when it comes to National Socialism. Understanding the whole topic and "disenchanting" the fairy tales of Adolf Hitler is a far better prevention than trying to track down secret National Socialist communities in Netherlands or elsewhere in the world in order to destroy them.
Banning does not mean the interest will subside, people who want to follow this ideology will do so, even if it means having to practice that outside of Germany.
Out of sight, out of mind - that is what most Germans want and think works best. However, it is exactly this what makes the whole topic as delicate and dangerous.
Raising awareness and showing one is not the same as once and trying to fight this ideology would help to gain recognition from other countries. And calling that back to everyone's mind, talking about it, would make it a lot harder for those groups to form anywhere in the world.
At the moment they're not allowed in Germany, but as you can see - they can get hands on the literature anyway.
Plus, the forbidden has always been a lure, and banning books like "Mein Kampf", this lure will remain and with it its false heroic myths. And those have quite an impact on young people if only the radicals will talk to them about literature like this and the neutral people remain quiet, not daring to speak their mind - probably mostly because they haven't even read it and therefore are unable to discuss.
That way, the way for infiltration of young minds with the National Socialist Ideology is free for those who worship the Third Reich.
In my eyes it's a misperception of our society that banning things like this would help.
I have to admit, I haven't read it myself yet, mostly because I am not interested in this ideology. If though, one day my children should be confronted with anything concerning this ideology I will read and discuss it with them. Openly. I would even want to hear why - if so - they show interest in this ideology, and maybe through discussing I could be able to show them that it's nothing but a sham, window-dressing by people who want to rule the world because no one takes them serious in any other aspect of their life, that this is their way to teach others to have respect for them since otherwise they wouldn't.
And if you make someone understand that respect has nothing to do with spreading fear, I am sure they will see National Socialism with different eyes.