Merkel

Angela Merkel is a great subject. But her background story is so glossed-over in this new film that after last year's 'Looking For Merkel' by Marion Van Renterghem, it's such a disappointment.

This film is more interested in American Presidents Trump and Obama, rather than how and why a woman could come from behind the Iron Curtain and inspire the 'Free World'.

Significant to Merkel's story is that she came from East Berlin where under communism, women had much greater equality than in the so-called free west. It's a fantastic story that gives a great perspective on East Germany where the young Angela's father moved to from the west. (One reason was that protestants were more accepted in the East than in catholic West Germany, which was dominated by men and corporate capitalism which stifled the role of women.)

A highly political young woman (not covered in 'Merkel'), she was shocked that despite being an eminent physicist, she became a second-class citizen in the west and was judged on her hair and clothing (again, omitted in Merkel).

'Looking For Merkel' by Marion Van Renterghem is available on Kanopy, Vimeo and other platforms and I rate it 9.

Angela Merkel will be remembered as an utmost decent politician and nowadays that is a rarity. In a testosteron dominated working environment, she somehow managed to stay human, compassionate and determined to be true to her personal convictions.

I lived in Berlin when the wall came down. The documentary states that this was a decisive moment in the career of Angela Merkel and having been on the spot, it is understandable to me what motivated her to consolidate this acquired freedom. She truly did all within her possibilities to shape the reunified Germany.

In the documentary it also becomes clear what a despicable coward Wladimir Putin (on his high heels!) is. See for yourself; you can only conclude how determined and brave Angela Merkel is.

The documentary "Merkel" about the 14 year German Reichskansler starts with a speech she is to hold at an American University where she is introduced as "the real leader of the European Union".

We then go to see Donald Trump talking about her first in a good way, then in a bad way.

This tells a lot. The first female Reichskansler in Germany came from a small pace in East Germany, then known as DDR, and has kept power as a kansler for the German Christian Democratic Party to su extent that people all over the world are worried when she was to step down.

This documentary is just a lot of clips with her, no narration through the program, except a professor telling about her upbringing, and interviews of persons talking about her, and still we get to know this special modest woman who became a world leader.

I enjoyed this, and leave it with more respect for her than i had before. The world needs more politicians like her, even if I don't particularly like her political party views.

I think it is bizarre how one can produce a feature length documentary on Merkel and not even once mention seminal episodes in her political career, such as the European debt crisis, the war in Eastern Ukraine, or the Fukushima disaster and her exit from nuclear energy.

Instead a lot time is spent on her relationship with American presidents, and a bit with Putin. The 'experts' in the documentary are an endless parade of major and minor American political figures, who offer very few new insights, mostly well-known and worn-out takes (strong woman, principled, last democrat standing, etc), so sometimes it's not clear if they have any specific first hand knowledge at all, or they just read it in the NY Times editorial of 2019.

Not one single continental European politician appears, apart from a number of Germans. It would have been very relavant to hear a Greek perspective (Varoufakis), or any other European leader who was in the room with Merkel during the endless crisis negatitation in 2011-2013, when the risk of total European financial meltdown was very real. Maybe a French person in the circle of Macron? A Ukranian, a Russian, who experienced the negatiations around Ukraine?

Many missed opportunities to give a complete picture of Merkel, instead we just get a narrow (liberal) American lens.

The only interesting part was her youth in the GDR, and her views on that.

Loved the documentary, and I have to say it was easy for me to love it, as Merkel is a kind of politician that inspires me a lot.

It was also great to watch this as I found out more about her personal life and her road to power. But how beautifully she served, instead of just being powerful.

The documentary is fun to watch, very insightful. I loved how they compared her to her allies but also her 'enemies' on the political stage.

A politician who made history on so many levels, and who had such a great positive impact not only for Germany, but also for the entire world - one who deserves not to be forgotten. Thank you!