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Content by slovakgirl5
Commentateur n° : 29,598
Votes Utiles:
3
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Reviews Written by
slovakgirl5 (Cleveland, Ohio USA)
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Reviewer Rank:
29598 |
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NOT YOUR MASS-PRODUCED AMERICAN PAP, Jul 2 2004
Even without the telltale subtitles, you can tell that "Goodbye Lenin" is not an American movie. Why is that, you ask? Because it can offer all the elements of good filmmaking: storytelling, character development...of its general complexity without sacrificing values.
Values, you say? Oh yeah--those quaint notions that inherently recognize right versus wrong and/or hold some old traditions near & dear. Again, the inclusion of old-time verities tips one off that TimeWarner is not providing the funding for "Goodbye Lenin." In fact, TimeWarner types would not fit into the ouevre of the film at all.
To cut to the chase, the story follows the antics of a young son's attempts to cover up the 1989 breakup of the GDR to his ailing mother. Residents of East Berlin, the son's mother--an ardent communist--emerges from a coma; doctors warn her children, though, that any shock or upset could bring on a fatal heart attack.
Knowing too well the cultural havoc that rampant post-1989 Westernism has created over the former GDR, the son goes to great comedic lengths to recreate pre-1989 Berlin in their tiny apartment in Alexanderplatz.
Which is yet another way "GL" cannot be mistaken for mass-produced American sap: it can manage to be a comedy, a complex political questions and a brave champion of Olde World values. And all at the same time!
Its refreshing to see the son's devotion to his mother, respect for familial ties and tradition. All Americans should be made to watch "GL:" to see the ugliness of our popular culture firsthand as it makes its brash way into the GDR. Coke banners, pornography, rap music, Britney...
Unlike those American movies that do make the attempt to formulate a message (which are becoming rarer by the day!), this film doesn't hit you over the head to get you to see the deleterious effects of western imperialism and crass consumerism. The movie's producers simply do this through their characters: a daughter who works at the new Burger King; Denis, the eager aspiring movie director who provides much of the comic relief in this film.
Although he may not be crazy about Lenin's theories and living under the communist regime, the son has enough depth of character to acknowledge and appreciate his mother's years of devotion to The Cause. But this is where the predictability ends in "GL>" Now usher in the disturbing and unexplained fact that his father was persecuted by authorities for not joining the Party and hence defected to West Berlin. Is this why his wife was such a devoted worker in The Party?
This could have been fleshed out more, just as the "Wessie-ness" (western Berlin manners and mores) of his sister's boyfriend, Rainer. The film has other shortcomings: the relationship between the son and his mother's nurse is too sappy and predictable ("American-like, you could say).
Some may view his efforts is recreating a pre-1989 life for his mother too farfetched for reality: think of the pickle scenes. The director's use of fast-forwarding for many of the comic scenes are hilarious and accentuate their absurdity.
Actual footage from the crumbling of the Berlin Wall is interspersed thru the film as well as newsrells of political leaders. I found it interesting that no images were shown of former President Reagan (or any other American officials for that matter).
The scene with the disembodied Lenin flying over Alexanderplatz, waving goodbye to the mother, is SUBLIME.
It doesn't get any better than this!
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Fur Hat
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de Vladimir Voinovich
Édition : Paperback |
| Price: CDN$ 16.75 |
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Suffer no fluffy tomcats upon your head!!, May 6 2003
Welcome to "Animal Farm" as performed within the setting of the Soviet National Writers Union during the communist era. We all know the AF credo: "All men are born equal--some more so than others" could have been made to order for the bloated pompous Soviet bureaucracy of yore. Fur Hat was my first introduction to Vladimir Voinovich: after reading this delightful satire on corruption/cronyism/toadyism within Party machinations, I nominate Voinovich on a par with Vonnegut. Readers will meet lots of Party types in this story: typical system hacks (Pyotr Lukin), over-decorated pompous military types (Karetnikov) and blatant anti-Semites (nearly every character in the book). Even our hapless protagonist, Yefim R, is married to a devoted Party member, "...but underneath her bra she wore a cross..." All kinds of deceit and posturing go on on a daily basis..the politics and pecking order of the national Writers Union come front & center as smug leaders pass out fur hats to its members, according to their rank and file within the group. Of course, celebrated writers who've won (dubiously so, albeit) titles and accolades get the top fur hats like reindeer and rabbit. Our hero, Yefim, receives the lowest ranking hat: fluffy tomcat. Poor Yefim. He is not disrespected by the powers-that-be because of his mediocre talent, but because he "writes only of good men challenging earthly elements." Union officials don't approve of Yefim's "writing about decent people & pretending there's no such thing as the Soviet state, or district and regional committees." Yefim's determined efforts to get a higher-ranking hat for himself ("even rabbit would be better!!") unfold into sublime absurdity as he goes from one Party official to another, encountering toadyism/nepotism/bribery/euphemisms and underhanded tactics. "Even on an iceberg, a Soviet collective will have its careerists, stool pigeons and at least one KGB agent." An exiled scribbler from the Soviet Union himself (1980), Voinovich rips on the Russian mentality that delight in military over-decoration and its writers that write just to receive titles and headlines. And international headlines themselves does our Yefim make as he finally loses his temper with one especially dull Party hack. When the western media ggets hold of this incident, they blow it all out of proportion (as western media is wont to do). Then our hero gets blacklisted as rumors of his "treason" spread like wildfire (the perfect example how rampant paranoid delusions become in police states). The western media dubs Yefim a dissident and builds his literary reputation up far beyond even his own imaginings! You'll have to read the book to see how the 'fur hat debacle' turns out. DANGER: THIS BOOK IS AN EQUAL-OPPORTUNITY BASHER! ENJOY!
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"No jail in the world can keep the human spirit imprisoned", April 28 2003
Perhaps our author's early years as a young Jesuit novice started out just as unusual as his early priesthood was destined to be. At 15 yrs old, Jan Korec, a native of Bosany (in the Slovak Republic) was the youngest Jesuit novitiate in his region; he took his vows at age 17 in 1941. Three yrs later, during the 1944 Slovak National Uprising, Korec hid out in a cellar in Trnava, reading philosophy to pass the time as the front line moved on thru. After that, he worked at a Trnava hospital caring for wounded Russian soldiers! Then while completing his studies at the Jesuit Institute, he wrote his thesis on Dialectical Materialism--irony incarnate, of course, as this is the official swan song of good marxists everywhere. And it was these very marxist followers who committed the horrors on that barbarian night of April 13, 1950 when the Czechoslovak state government shut down convents and monasteries and arrested religious leaders as "enemies of the state." Undaunted, Korec was secretly ordained a priest 6 months after this; the following year, he was secretly consecrated a Bishop of the Catholic Church. Over the coming years, he himself would ordain over 120 priests in "underground" ceremonies. Alas, in 1960, he was arrested for "treason" and imprisoned at the infamous Valdice and Pankrac prisons (he received early release in 1968 during the "thaw"). Even after his release, Bishop Korec lived under constant surveillance up until the Velvet Revolution of 1989. The 30 years he spent under the communist hacks make up the bulk of this book and provide compelling reading. Many editors and distinguished personages went into the making of this book; forewards are penned by Vaclav Havel and Pope John Paul II. Fotos are provided liberally thru the text, as well as helpful footnotes to events and persons discussed within. Korec pulls no punches either in naming specific commie villains (a pox to you Vojtech Filkorn!) and he weaves his prison experiences with other famous Church figures (Bishops Vojtassak and Hnilica) alongside him. Occasionally, the text gets bogged down with legal details in his trial hearings and individual's names are not always provided in a uniform manner with diacritics. NOTB is not a grim preachy and humorless read at all: Korec weaves humorous anecdotes all through his trials with marxist mayhem. You'll learn all kinds of things in this book: that Czech crystal was the product of prisoners working under duress and in unsafe conditions...in 1991, Korec was appointed a Cardinal in the Church (Nitra). Don't believe the naysayers who claim we have no heroes today--you just have to know where to look! For starters, then, meet Cardinal Jan Korec, a man who defied the machinations of a police state to ensure the survival of the Catholic Church in Slovakia.
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Letters from Prison
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de Vaclav Havel
Édition : Paperback |
| Price: CDN$ 13.73 |
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"It would be good if he could have stayed with us...", May 8 2002
A quiet understatement about the author of these letters from prison, from Vaclav Havel, president of the Czech Republic. And then how about this very telling quote from Simecka, Havel's advisor for Czech-Slovak relations: "It would seem that people have a greater immunity to unification than to viral infections."
Wise words from one of the foremost experts and prolific authors of Soviet marxism: Milan Simecka. Initially enthusiastic about socialism as a governing body, feeling it could move society towards a more utopian state, Simecka (who studied philosophy and literature at university) began his teaching career lecturing on marxism in 1954 at Comenius University in Bratislava. Over time, he and other Czechoslovak intellectuals became disillusioned with the Party and were eventually expelled. In 1968, he was fired from his university post and forced to work at various unskilled labor jobs.
Simecka denounced Soviet-brand marxism--(which he refers to in the book as "existing socialism')--in fact--all ideologies, defining them as "the real scourges of humanity..." He began to participate in dissident activities against the State, including writing and publishing treatise against totalitarianism, saying "I now advocate tolerance for all peoples."
His writings were smuggled out of Czechoslovakia into the West and Simecka gradually earned an international reputaiton as a renown interpreter of totalitarian regimes. Soviet authorities imprisoned him in the infamous Ruzyne prison in Prague in 1981, where he remained for 13 months. Letters from prison is a collection of 30 surviving letters from that era. Since prisoners were forbidden to write about politics, Simecka's letters to his wife, Eva, centered around either family concerns or long philosophical musings (his son, author Martin Simecka, figures prominently in the first section).
Although his letters were routinely censored, Simecka still managed to throw in a few oblique insults at his captors. Included throughout the book are several b&w photos featuring Simecka with family members or political figures.
As he was fluent in both the Czech and Slovak languages, Vaclav Havel appointed him to be his advisor on Czech-Slovak relations in 1990. Immediately after the Velvet Revolution, voices advocating for the "divorce' of Czecho-Slovakia demanded to be heard; Simecka was said to have been devastated by this separatist fervor.
Just six months into his new post, Simecka died suddenly of a heart tattack. Gordon Skilling, an expert on Czecho-Slovak affairs (recently deceased, himself), believed that "Milan Simecka contributed much to the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia."
This collection of letters greatly adds to the growing body of Slovak literature under totalitarian order. There is a biographical section on Simecka at the end of the book (would have been better to place it in the beginning) and a note from the translator, Gerald Turner. Turner, whom some readers will more quickly recognize by his nom de plume, "AG Brain," did an excellent, professional job in translating these detailed, sometimes abstract, rambling epistles from prison.
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Living Parallel
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de Alexandr Kliment
Édition : Hardcover |
| Price: CDN$ 20.13 |
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"You can't grow old under a single flag...", April 8 2002
At least not in beleaguered central Europe, at any rate ("where Prague Central used to be called Masaryk Station. Formerly known as Ferdinand Station"). Yes, the map of eastern Europe has been redrawn how many times in the last century alone?? "But why get worked up over it?" shrugs Mikulas Svoboda, our anti-hero in Alexander Kliment's Living Parallel. Mikulas repeats this same refrain at least 15 times throughout the story, reflecting his helplessness living under the communist regime in 1960s Czechoslovakia. Like other people living in police states, he has learned to survive by living a double life. Who wouldn't feel a little schizophrenic getting schooled as a youngster first under the fascist regime in the 1930s, only to be later followed by the Soviet brand of brainwashing? Mikulas has forged an uneasy truce with his guilt in comlying with his Marxist bosses in designing prefab "ugly, gray kitsch(y) housing cells" for which the Soviets are now infamous; an architect by profession, he "can't cross the border of drudgery to creation." The crux of Living Parallel, though, is Mikulas' dilemma whether to take up the opportunity to emigrate West with a friend or to remain in his native Prague. His story then takes us through the convolutions of his thoughts and feelings as he debates the pro's and con's of leaving home. Yes, living under an oppressive regime is difficult (to say the least) but can Mikulas' finely honed talent of living a successful, parallel life be sufficient for him after all? This book is a complex one, difficult to summarize in a short review; questions of religious faith and politics are woven throughout the narrative. Originally published in 1977, Living Parallel was written by Alexander Kliment, a dissident whose work was banned in his native Czechoslovakia while under communist rule. It was translated by Robert Wechsler, who must be commended for painstaking work. Some of the most beautiful descriptions of the Prague landscape can be found within the pages of Living Parallel.
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A little on a lot..., Jan 30 2002
I purchased this book mainly as a reference for Czech and Slovak women writers, attracted to its self-described need to "stress communality of experiences by countries shaped by similar historical and political processes." The editors claims the intent of the book is to reverse the neglect of women writers in central European countries and touts her own horn by telling us that "this is a pioneering work." It may be so, in that it is the first anthology containing the former Hapsburg-controlled lands, but at least as far as Czech and Slovak women writers are concerned, pretty much the same old material gets rehashed. The Czech section is thorough and is one of the longer chapters in the book; there is some new myth-killing info on Nemcova as it discusses the curious "cult of personality" that surrounded this author of Babicka. Biographical info on other Czech women is interesting (Svetla, Krasnahorska) and there is an interesting addition of a writer named Irma Geisslova. The Slovak section of the texzt is 18 pages in length. The first author discussed in detail is Lehocka, described as "an archetype of the Slovak women's movement" (hyperbole at its worst), for in the the next paragraph, Soltesova is branded as "a pioneer of Slovak women's literature and the women's movement" (yet, the author admits, Soltesova liked to emphasize 'woman's natural role'in daily life). The editors make the claim in the Introduction that "the text does not set out to give a feminist account of material covered" and yet seems eager to hang such titles on each different writer--with a decidedly feminist bent to them. About Podjavorinska: "(she) avoided radical feminism because she needed male writer's support." The disappointingly short blurb on Slovak writer Timrava grossly misjudges her work, calling it "banal" and "sanitized." Since this book hails from Britain and European editorship, though, the text is blessedly free of American academic pomo-jargon; there is little mumbo-jumbo. Ursula Philips, who authors the chapter on Polish writers, has a direct, powerful writing style. Some chapters in the book are frustratingly short (yet understandably so). The valuable bibliography lists all the authors who have works available in English translations.
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Out from under Felix Davidek, Jan 21 2002
I had high hopes in starting out in reading this work. Interested in all-things-Slovak and how Czechoslovakia functioned under communism, I expected this book to be a credible account of Ludmila Javorova's priestly ordination. Instead, I am sad to admit, I've come away thinking that Javorova was the unfortunate victim of a spurned megalomaniac. I hesitate to use such strong and disrespectful language, but after reading Javorova's story (which could be titled "The misadventures of "Bishop" Felix Davidek"), I, too, wonder about the validity of her priestly 'ordination.' Not that Javorova wasn't sincere in her faith: she desired to begin her religious vocation at age 15 but in 1947, Czechoslovakia was poised to become "liberated" by the Soviet armed forces. Father Felix Davidek, 11 years her senior, was arrested by Soviet authorities for continuing with clandestine religious activities. After his release from prison in 1964, he looked up Javorova, a neighbor and family friend from their native Brno and enlisted her help in ensuring the survival of the underground church in Czechoslovakia. Together, they established and ran Koinotes, a Catholic fellowship group out of which Davidek secretly recruited and educated men for priesthood in the Catholic Church. Once Davidek pushed his agenda for the ordination of women, though, Koinotes splintered and he lost much of his power and influence in the underground church. It is after this that Davidek's behavior began to border on the bizarre and his ever-increasing demands on Ludmila just more evidence of his deteriorating mental health. By 1970, when he insisted on ordaining her into the priesthood, Javorova felt that they were 'rushing' things. His controlling demands on her time eventually took their toll and she suffered from exhaustion and fell seriously ill. This did not diminish Davidek's demands on her and both of their reputations suffered irrevocably. In 1976, the Vatican officially ordered Davidek to stop his "work" as a Bishop in the Church and declared his ordinations and consecrations invalid. He refused to cease functioning as a bishop and a few years later, Ludmila finally succeeds in making a clean break with Davidek. Sour grapes again, Davidek engaged in some very un-Christian meanspirited actions against her. When he falls ill a few years later, Ludmila extends forgiveness toward him and nurses him until his death in 1988. Out of the depths is written well enough and proceeds in a chronological order. If the reader is not familiar with the hierarchy and politics of the Roman Catholic Church, he may find himself baffled at its political machinery. Therese Winter, the author of the book, never questions the validity of Ludmila's ordination and the reader must read carefully between the lines to pick up on Javorova's frustations at times in dealing with Davidek.
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