Good Bye Lenin by Wolfgang Becker and Bernd Lichtenberg, another look at this fabulous motion picture is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/good-bye-lenin-written-and-directed-by.html where I have a few thousand other notes - 9 out of 10

 

Good Bye Lenin by Wolfgang Becker and Bernd Lichtenberg, another look at this fabulous motion picture is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/good-bye-lenin-written-and-directed-by.html where I have a few thousand other notes

 

9 out of 10

 

This is one of my favorite films, one that combines comedy with satire, and it depicts what has been a terrible tragedy, the end of one of the most heinous systems in the history, indeed, on some accounts, it was the very worst, although communism is accepted in some circles (they lead in China, Vietnam, Cuba and quite a few other places), it killed more people, a few times more, than the nazis, if we count Mao and Stalin

 

We are immersed in the final days of the communist dictatorship, and then we will have some action in the days after that, this is Eat Germany we are talking about, a place that was pretty much like heaven, when compared with what we had here, under Ceausescu, and I am proud to say I took part in the Revolution

And not just that, I managed to get myself into Newsweek http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world at that time it was a prestigious, one of the best known publications in the world, now, most likely you have not heard of it, but then, you are not here anyway, statistics prove it

 

I have seen a couple of days ago, another film about East Germany and the febrile effort to escape into the west, Peter and Doris want to take their children and find freedom in West Germany, using a…balloon, and the fantastic part of this is that it is not fiction (well, some artistic license is needed) it really happened

They bought huge quantities of material, made for umbrellas and other things, Peter worked with Gunter and created the skeleton, they even tried once and fell into the forest, but did not give up, tried again, with Stasi aka the German KGB (Putin worked in Germany for the KGB) on their trail, they were very near jail time

 

What was sad and incomprehensible on some levels, in both Balloon and Good Bye Lenin those valiant men, women and even children were so desperate to get to freedom and the West, that they risked everything, prison, torture, losing it all, and in the present, you have those morons that…regret communism

Yes, we can get some of that, old men, fantasizing about their youth, when they were apt, good for so much, and then in contrast, now they find it hard to, I don’t know, move, so there were the good old days, and look how bad it is now, over simplifying it, there are some that have lost, God forbid, reckoning may come here too

 

I mean, my business partner has told me things are expensive, coming from…Germany, what with the gas no longer cheap in the pipes from Russia, what we import is so difficult to sell, it is not looking good, so there you are…only it does not mean I see now the Ceausescu years as the glorious past, there were so many attractions

On the contrary, it was just horrible, shortages, long queues for anything, cold in the houses (now too, but that is because there is this large place, with three levels, and I only heat the rooms where we are, and not even those) two hours of television program, with Ceausescu and his exploits, opened this, said that

 

Mutter Christiane Kerner has a heart episode, in the final period of the communist days, and she is in a coma, and the doctor says to her son, Alex aka wondrous Daniel Bruhl, one of the most talented thespians of our times, look, you have to avoid any shock, because that might kill your mother, so be careful

What about the big change, for in the meantime, while she was away in her blackout, Germany has united, now there is the capitalism all around, the system that was so loathed, the enemy, fat cats, imperialist pigs, granted they were there in the past https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/01/animal-farm-by-george-orwell-magnum.html

 

Animal Farm, one of the best novels ever, explains how in theory, they were all equal, but ‘some animals are more equal than others’, the pigs take over, make the other animals work for them, indulge in all the ‘vices’ of the rotten bourgeoise, eventually, they become much worse and end up killing the horse, and torturing the rest

Nonetheless, there was propaganda, and beyond that, Mutter must be protected, so she is not told, they make all the effort to create this bubble- just like those disciples of Orange Jesus, who is now collecting all the crazies around, the guy with the bear in the trunk and soon to bring polio and more, the Russian asset…

 

Live in their own world, claiming this Orange Felon is all talk, bluster, no, he is not, he has the worst people in history nominated to run the most powerful army in the world, lead all the Intelligence Agencies (a crazy woman, fond of conspiracy theories and friendly with…Bashar al Assad) and then the sexual predator!

Back to Mutter, they take old cans and put pickles in them, because nothing changed, and they find it hard to get those old, rotten things replaced by better, competitive goods from the West, at one point, there is a huge Coca Cola banner, on an apartment building nearby, and this is a crucial moment, what about this symbol of decadence

They even try to create a television channel, and this was before you could go on YouTube and post something, live, they have this man reading the ‘news’, some old propaganda, communist talk, to keep mother alive

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”