The Communist Threat

These old short "propaganda" films are usually put online for free. PeriscopeFilm has the right to it right now and put it on Youtube while claiming it's "over-the-top". It's not really "over-the-top" the movie is a very fair and realistic depiction of how this would happen.

It's a 30 min film about East Germans escaping Communist Soviet. The theme alone is obviously something that drags you in. You know what people want and understand the danger. The tension is natural which is why I will keep watching Cold War movies about escaping to freedom. Here a group of Christian rebels want to escape atheism. They build a hiding spot in the back of a truck to hide from the border guards. They also have a baby which they say might cry. I'm not sure why they take the baby with them seems like it's extremely dangerous. At least wait till it's like 5 years old. The lead engineer has to attend a pro Communism slideshow presentation for workers which actually is pretty engaging. They mention how 80% of the engineers escaped to the West before the wall. I'm not exactly sure what the location is.

Before the invention of the digital camera you had to use expensive film. So they can't really hang around all day to wait for great acting. The kid actor is just horrible. The others are pretty bad, but acceptable for a small cheap movie from that time. Today of course this sort of acting is below even a high school theater production. The plot is also too weak to be memorable. It's nice to see old Germany on film so it's engaging all the way. But the overall story is lame and not worth exploring. Most of these movies have similar type of stories anyhow. There are better versions of the same story. But this feels more raw and realistic.