Das wilde Leben

Saw this on Netflix streaming movies. Much of the movie is in German with English subtitles, but some of it is in English.

Uschi Obermaier was (is?) apparently a real person who joined in with what we would call the hippie free-love movement in 1960s Germany. But she was also a model and a very successful one. Much of her modeling was nude or semi-nude, graphically depicted in the film, and the actress certainly has a Playboy-worthy beauty.

German actress Natalia Avelon plays Uschi Obermaier . While she is the central character her life and travels take her many places and with many famous people. The beginning and the end of the film are the same, she is standing nude on the beach, watching a raft burn, symbolic of her relationships that had died and the men with them. In between is her story.

The critic Ebert has a very good and accurate review. Interesting film, but I lived through the 1960s and 1970s, I remember those days, and watching this one didn't do much for me.

As I said earlier, we met Uschi and Dieter in Aspen, Colorado in 1982. I got a letter from her from Northern California in September of '82 prior to their trip to Mexico. I'm looking at it right now. She was excited that they were going to have a friend make a tepee for them and spend the winter living in it on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Uschi and Dieter that we spent an evening with gave no hint of being the type of people this movie portrays. They did not seem to be the dark and tortured souls that this movie shows them to be. They were happy, outgoing, talkative, generous and excited about the future. Dieter loved to fish. They loved Colorado. They enjoyed crossing the USA and had been all around it, but the movie make no mention of that time at all. The movie also gives no mention of her artistic talents. Uschi made scrimshaw, and as an artist I can tell you it was excellently done. She was going to have an exhibition of her scrimshaw in LA but I do not know if she ever did. I can't say they were friends of mine, exactly, having only spent one evening together but they were acquaintances and I have very fond memories of them. I'd always hoped one day I'd see their bus on the highway so I could say hello again. I don't know if this movie was authorized by Uschi as an accurate portrayal of their lives, but I do know it made me sad for them. My wish is for her happiness and hope that these last 30 years or so have been as happy as they could be.

Uschi, if you ever read this, blessings and happiness to you.

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.

A wonderful rendering of the 60s. If you grew up like me with the 1968 revolution as a mythical era, this film will make you jubilate. Sex, drugs, rock and roll, radical thinking, revolutionaries, and the research of freedom, pleasure and new horizons. Freeing of the mind, freeing of the body… In her small town in Bavaria, Obermaier feels the revolution pounding in her bones and can't stay in place in her confined, old-fashioned home. Listening to rock music is her escape but it simply is not enough. She takes off and lives in an activist commune for some time before becoming a lover of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and marrying a rich adventurer and traveling the world with him. A lively portrait of strong-willed Obermaier, her rebelliousness and search for unbound freedom. "Don't dream your life, live your dream" is a motto that appears in the film and could not apply better. Uschi appears unstoppable, ready to conquer the world, explore the confines of freedom. Inspiring.