Berlin, 1er mai

Berlin is a fascinating place and this film reflects a slice of contemporary Berlin that I haven't seen so accurately portrayed elsewhere. The film is at its best when it sticks to relatively low-drama depictions of the fabric of the society surrounding the May 1st festival in today's Berlin. The film-maker focuses on small side stories about, for instance, second-generation immigrant youth, unhappy police officers and a true-to-life Quixotic leftist, left over from political struggles that smack of merely "historical" relevance.

The film is flawed, unwilling to be satisfied with the sort of gentle drama & humor that works so well throughout. I don't know the background of the film -- if it is an experiment, I hope the director will decide with me that some parts worked and some didn't and go on to make more movies in the mode of what worked, here.

This movie uses Kreuzberg, a district in the heart of Berlin as plot driver for several little episodes. Since the famous May Day riots in 1987 where Kreuzberg was a marginal district cornered by the Berlin Wall and charged with social conflicts due to Ghetto-politics concerning the Turkish immigrants minority Kreuzberg on 1st of may has been the magnet for politically left sided tourists, cops form abroad etc. In recent years with the crisis of the German political left the events have largely deescalated and 1st of May in Kreuzberg not only became folcloristic but also the riots seem to be part of the past. However 'Berlin 1. Mai' depicts a very realistic image of Kreuzberg today. The different episodes' plots seem a little overdone on some occasions but that doesn't hurt the overall impression of a very intense cinematic experience.