Das wilde Leben

After recent films about Sixties-pop-icons like Jim Morrisson, Brian Jones and Edie Sedgwick, now Uschi Obermaier is on.

This time there's a big difference, though: Uschi survived her wild young days and is still doing well. If I may believe the 'making of'-chapter of my German DVD: the real Uschi has been involved in the process, improving authenticity. The DVD also includes a few nice shots of young Uschi in her Sixties & Seventies-days.

I've also read Uschi Obermaier's autobiography 'High Times', and conclude that actress Natalia Avelon plays her character well - all set up with true German thoroughness.

Both real Uschi and her film-copy are about a girl who imaged out the moods of her young days very well - just that. What remains untold in film and autobiography, is the history of the vibrating Sixties-youth culture.

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Having lived through the thirties' economic depression and world war 2, Uschi's parents were strongly molded by these tragic times. Uschi and her generation, born shorty after the war, did not carry this emotional burden. They worried about a new danger their parents mostly ignored: environment pollution.

As a result, a wide generation-gap opened up. Youngsters like Uschi Obermaier felt a strong urge to liberate themselves from their parents' strong & strict moral rules. Add to that the new availability of anti-conceptive, greatly helping in experimenting with new lifestyles.

For Uschi's generation, the late Sixties and early Seventies were a time to develop a lifestyle they felt comfortable with. It is the German version of what happened in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood during the same period.

The story of Uschi Obermaier and her rise to fame in the 1960s. The film accurately depicts her life and in the process has many dope party scenes as well. The film is to premier in the US August 22 and I am excited to see how the English version will compare to the original German. Obermaier's accent is not "exaggerated" as the actress's native language is indeed German.

The unique viewpoint Uschi experienced during the social revolution makes for a very interesting film. Themes of growing up, life, learning to love, and experiencing loss all are major players. All in all, if you are looking for a film true to life, a film that doesn't gloss over the hardships and dull down the excitement of freedom, this is a movie for you.

I haven't seen the movie yet, I didn't know there was one, but I and some friends actually met Uschi and Dieter Bockhorn at the Maroon Bells Park in Aspen in early 80's, I think. I could look the date up on my slides, I guess. We spent the evening with them partying in their awesome, customized Mercedes bus overlooking the lake. It was really fun and interesting. We had NO idea who they were. Dieter was very cool, but couldn't speak English very well. Uschi translated for him but she had a heavy, very sexy, German-glish accent. They told us all about their travels, how they got their bus, about their wedding in India riding elephants, and about the magazine articles Dieter wrote…one was about "The Return of Uschi" so we figured she was obviously famous somehow, but we couldn't really understand the story with the language barrier and all. Not sure they even tried to explain. They were very friendly and down-to-earth. She was absolutely, amazingly, stunningly beautiful. Her hair was short then. She kissed me on the cheek when we said our goodbyes the next morning. Then we went our separate ways. We wrote back and forth a time or two. She said they were on their way to Baja Mexico where they went in the winters. I tried to look them up on the web without success, because I mistakenly tried looking for Uschi "Bockhorn." When I finally discovered her correct name and story I was stunned. And when I found out that Dieter had died, not too very long after we met them I was doubly-stunned and saddened. My middle son is named Dieter. Maybe I'll write her again sometime, maybe not, but I'll always remember that night. In the meantime I'm not sure if I want to get to know the Uschi of this movie or the Uschi I remember. We'll have to see.

I'm disappointed about the low rating that this movie has. It's one of my favorites and I've watched it several times. I've read other reviews to see why it has such a low rating, and I notice that people expect from it something that it's not. They expect it to be about the "Kommune", they expect it to be about an extraordinary girl, and they expect expensive set designs.

This movie is not about all that. The way I see it, Das Wilde Leben is about a journey, it's about a girl who is free and is not afraid to break boundaries, it's about a girl who uses her beauty to have the adventure of her life. She falls in love with powerful men, she lives wildly, she sees the world. And, above all, this movie is about a powerful woman.

Is the movie true to the historical facts? Is it true to Uschi's life? That's not what's important. It's a movie, not a documentary. Beyond the cheap sets and the historical inaccuracies (if there are any) lays a beautiful and inspiring story.

I will catch this film when it plays here in Chicago in August. I was in Kommune 1 for a couple of weeks in March of 1969. There were two residences - Rainer Langhans, Uschi Obermaier, Dieter Kunzelmann stayed in the larger of the two, a factory loft sort of place. I stayed in the other residence, a dozen or so people in one large room. I went there with a friend from Frankfurt who wanted to reconcile with his girlfriend, who had left him for Dieter Kunzelmann. His girlfriend was unreceptive and he split right away. I was welcome to stay on for a while and did. It was easy living. Everyone was nice, except grouchy Dieter. No star attitudes or pretensions. Both Rainer and Uschi were very grounded, not at all affected by their notoriety. I think that set the tone. I'll give this film a 10 just on its subject matter.