Goodbye Lenin and La Haine - Discussions of Social Issues Post-Socialist Germany - Essay Example

?Goodbye Lenin (2003) and La Haine (1995 Discussions of Social Issues Post-Socialist Germany The films Goodbye Lenin (2003) and La Haine (1995) explore social issues in the aftermath of the reunification of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the eventual fall of communism and socialism in Europe. The nature of the release from oppression creates a number of reactions, not all of which is are positive. As in the situation in Goodbye Lenin (2003), Christiane personifies the Socialist Party and her fate is tied to the emotional context of the fate of the Socialist Party, thus her fate is one of a passing. The struggles that those connected to her must endure can be seen as the struggles that occur whenever an ideology of a culture passes, the growing pains that must happen in order to come to a point where freedoms are fully understood and experienced. In La Haine (1995), the pain of having to deal with the nature of city inequities where race and poverty create a power inequality between authority and the poor is explored through the events of a day in the life of Parisian impoverished youths. In turmoil that is part of the perceived landscape of the European culture, as filtered through Hollywood visions of racial inequality, the nature of life after the fall of communism is reflected. In both films, social issue are examined through personifications of struggles as well as the reactions of those around those personified ideals are explored. The plot to the film Goodbye Lenin (2003) is defined by its connectivity between the present and the past. The first portion of the film connects the events that will happen further along within the film through a recalling of 1978 when Sigmund Jahn entered space. Jahn was from East Germany and this is a great source of pride for the main character of the film, Alex. The film becomes an exploration of the way that life is lived before the fall of the wall and how it has developed since that time. Alex’s mother, a supporter of the Socialist Party, sees her son arrested at a protest before the wall falls and has a heart attack which leads to a coma that lasts through the political events that precede and are post the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The nature of the exploration is defined by the way that Alex, his sister Ariane, and his girlfriend must prevent his mother from finding out about the political changes because the shock might cause her to once again fall into cardiac arrest. Through the ways that the three plot to present former oppressive atmospheres to Alex’s mother, Christiane, a revelation of the profound differences before the fall of the wall and since that time can be appreciated. In recreating the oppressed state of life before the wall fell, incidents such as taking out all the brighter decor that has Western influences and replaying old broadcasts of events that happened before the fall of the wall provide a contrast of the ways in which life was experienced on either side of the powerful and transformative event. The adherence to the old ideologies creates an additional sense of the transformation that has occurred during the time of Christiane’s coma. There is a running commentary about the beauty of anarchy, the fulfillment that is created when human beings deny ‘authority’ and assert their right to freedom. In the end, despite her own belief and feelings about conformity, Christiane is scattered after her cremation through the use of a rocket that belongs to Alex. This act is an illegal act, but he does it anyway, freeing his mother from her own constraint and scattering her in the place that she loved, while symbolically celebrating the freedom that they have gained through the fall of the wall and the transformation of their nation. The film, La Haine (1995), explores the tension between anarchy and authority, the police representing authority and having both honorable and corrupt representations available for contrast. The power dynamic is what sets the authority apart from the anarchist youth who explore their feelings of oppression through the events of a day that include racism, poverty, and eventually murder. The film is based on an actual event of a 16 year old boy who was killed in police custody in France (Reisinger, 137). The end of the film is a violent moment where the resolution to the event is not revealed to the viewer, thus creating a sense of the helplessness that comes from the feeling oppression. There is no relief, no telling conclusion that informs the viewer who to most designate as the victim. The police in the film are victims of the small amount of power that is given to them without the ability to create change. As all police officers experience their duties, they are helpless to prevent crime, yet are responsible for evidence of its existence. This forms problems within the force where some continue forward in honor with their despair over their hopeless task a constant reminder of their impotence. Others become corrupt, taking out their frustrations on the public that they are sworn to trust. They abuse their authority and create moments of hell for their victims who are powerless to stop them from their behavior. The name of the film is Hate, although it is most often released with its French title no matter where it is released, is reflective of a line in the film which states that “hatred breeds hatred” (Vincendeau, 62). The end of the film suggests the belief that violence is an inevitability in life. The character, Vincent, is filled with anger and hatred for his life. He resents his position in life and it manifests in displays of gangster style gesture, even extending to his own affirmation of his association with a tougher sort of male through mimicking the character that Robert DeNiro played in Taxi Driver. Vincent is positioned as the tragic anti-hero, his beliefs eliciting sympathy from an audience who can relate to his frustrations. He is heroic in that he tries to create action, to protect and resolve the problems in his life through action. However, he is an anti-hero because he is resistant to the honorable notions that should frame his beliefs. Vincent has a moment of humiliation when a corrupt police officer abuses his authority. It is this same police officer who will, in the end, create a martyr of Vincent through his misuse of a gun to threaten Vincent purely for the pleasure of asserting his power, but it goes off, leaving Vincent murdered. As Vincent’s friend and the police officer point their guns, creating a stand-off, the scene fades to black with the sound of a gunshot the only remaining clue to how the event ended. The audience is left to ponder the balance of who shot the gun and who lived. As the police are framed as the symbols of misued authority, one wants the young man, Hubert, to have lived. The nature of violence in the impoverished lives of the youths of this movie is punctuated by the death of Vincent in the end. It is clear to the audience that their bravado is merely a defense mechanism, created so that they can endure their position in life. The youths act in such a way as to suggest that they are taking power back to themselves and denying the authority of the city to control their lives. However, in the end they are powerless in the shadow of authority, Vincent losing his life to its corruption because he does not have that power. He stands helpless as the gun is put to his head, and without the power to stop his own death at the hands of the corrupt source of power that asserts its will over him. This inevitably of violence, despite his own realization that he does not have the will for violence himself, leads Vincent to his end. The contrast between Vincent and Hubert further supports this conversation, the idea that violence will always be the result of conflict. Hubert is calm, and speaks quietly to his mother, where Vincent shouts in his family situation. The bravado that Vincent displays is in contrast to the calming nature of Hubert (Vincendeau, 62). However, in the end, an end that the audience is never given a clear conclusion to, Hubert is the one who must willfully choose violence. When given the opportunity, Vincent chooses to not display violence, but Hubert is put in a more dire position in the end. His friend has been killed by a sadistic and corrupt police representative. This police officer may kill him for having witnessed the event. He points the gun at the police officer willfully, but the question that is left is whether or not he pulls the trigger or if he is killed. Socialism has been constructed from those who do not remember it as a good political structure under which they suffered from various forms of oppression. According to Berdahl and Bunzle, “socialism was being remade into memory from the very beginnings of its end, as new histories were created out of unsanctioned memories of the past, in emergent nationalizing projects, and in symbolic acts of legitimizing new states (123). The understanding of socialism is dependent on the belief system, through values and demand, that predominates the discussion. Therefore, the discussion that is made about socialism is made through the point of view of the experience more often than the point of view of those who believe in the ideology. However, both points of view are given some voice in Goodbye Lenin (2003). Christiane is an activist for the Socialist Party, who sees the betrayal of her son as a personal affront to her belief systems when he marches in an anti-government rally (Berardinelli, 107). Christiane can be seen as the embodiment of the Socialist Party, weakened and sick, meaning well, but causing the world to pander to its specifications through creating its nature rather than through it fully functioning. The events of Christiane’s illness and subsequent death mirror the events that occurred during the destruction of the Berlin Wall (Brockman, 471). As the wall came down, one might think that Socialism was put into a metaphorical coma as it no longer can function in the remaking of the new world. As it awakens to a changed world, just as Christiane has awakened, its facade is only in its remembrance, just as suggested by Berdahl and Bunzl, a recreation of life during that period the closest thing left to actually living under those circumstances. In the end, Christiane dies shortly after German reunification occurs, thus having her life during that last time period reflect the dying embers of the oppressed state. The film La Haine (1995) director, Mathieu Kassovitz, is highly influenced by film makers John Singleton and Spike Lee for their works in Boyz in the Hood and Do the Right Thing, respectively (George, 156). Using the ethnically charged and street aesthetics from these films, he created a piece of work that was a commentary on the nature of neighborhood oppressions that manifest in violence. The film draws from the hip-hop culture, creating an Americanized style of story that depicts the era of violence that is the result of civil unrest during the 1990s. As oppressions were being lifted and the European political landscape was changing, the affects of unrest was felt throughout the different nations. Through an exploration of the city of Paris from the perspective of a hip-hop aesthetic, a similar type of storytelling takes place. The connection to American style film making might also explain some aspects of Goodbye Lenin (2003). The Western aesthetics of filmmaking, which reflects and embracement of Western ideologies of freedom, has changed many of the aspects of European film making within contemporary society. In Goodbye Lenin (2003), the film is a comedy, a genre that is not highly explored by German film makers. The influence on the German cinema for Comedy was begun in 1985 as Hollywood films provided a template for success in the storytelling of comedy for the German filmmakers (Charney, 361). Goodbye Lenin (2003), however, brought the serious nature of world events and the transitional nature of the reunification of Germany through an accessible and entertaining comedy that used sophisticated levels of associations and personifications in order to discuss the nature of the period of the fall of the wall. Through the use of American aesthetics, both films were able to discuss social issues that were relevant to the restructuring of the European continent states. While there is some criticism that La Haine (1995) is more of a recreation of an American setting rather than a reflection of a Parisian setting, the concepts still are related through the emotional content of the experience of fringe setting poverties. According to Higbee, “La Haine, therefore mediates its representations of social fractures through Hollywood, hip-hop, and the street culture of banlieue” (77). As well, even if the explorations of racial issues are taken through the Americanized hip-hop version of how to frame those experiences, the discussion is still held through an understanding of the importance of the problems that can result from racial disparities and prejudices. As the ideologies of Europe have grown to more closely resemble those of the United States, American film makers have had a stronger influence over the types of film making practiced in Europe. European films have their own histories, the legendary film makers of their cultures providing context and influence on the way in which film arts have progressed and evolved within the individual countries. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, however, and the change in overall ideological foundation, the American films that have influenced the European filmmakers have begun to reframe society (Morrison, 241). La Haine (1995) is a discussion of how the hip-hop culture and the African American directors who discussed racial relations from a specific perspective have influenced some of the work in Europe. As well, the thoughtful comedy with serious and direct commentary on a political event suggests that the comedy genre evolved into a more serious form of communication entertainment, taking on some of the influences from American comedies. As a film that more directly confronts the conflicts and issues of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Goodbye Lenin (2003) frames the experiences of the period through reflections of the absurd. In trying to pamper the old ideologies, it becomes clear that the time has come for the passing of one period of time in order to welcome the next. Letting go of the old culture is a theme that presents the core theme of how a transition within a culture must take place. The film reveals aspects of Ostalgie, a phenomenon that is still present in Eastern Germany where some people still long for the ways of the old state (Todorova, and Gille, 178). Changes on the European political scene have resulted in changes in ideologies that now reflect concepts that are more often associated with the United States, allowing for American film to have a strong influence on European cinema. The film Goodbye Lenin (2003) clearly represents the period of time during the fall of the Berlin Wall, creating a commentary on the transitions that took place during that time. La Haine (1995) creates context for the aftermath of all the turmoil of the period. Both films reflect the Hollywood aesthetics through themes that discuss the unrest in post-Socialist Europe. Bibliography Berardinelli, James. Reel Views 2: The Ultimate Guide to the Best 1,000 Modern Movies on Dvd and Video. Boston: Justin, Charles & Co, 2005. Brockmann, Stephen. A Critical History of German Film. Rochester, N.Y: Camden House, 2010. Berdahl, Daphne, and Matti Bunzl. On the Social Life of Postsocialism: Memory, Consumption, Germany. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010. Charney, Maurice. Comedy: 2. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2005. George, Nelson. Hip Hop America. New York: Penguin, 2005. Higbee, Will. Mathieu Kassovitz. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2006. Morrison, James. Passport to Hollywood: Hollywood films, European directors. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998. Reisinger, Deborah S. Crime and Media in Contemporary France. West Lafayette, Ind: Purdue University Press, 2007. Todorova, Maria, N. and Zsuzsa Gille. Post-communist Nostalgia. New York: Berghahn Books, 2010. Vincendeau, Ginette. La Haine (hate). Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2005. Read More