vinnienh

The television of the GDR (Fernsehen der DDR) produced this mini in 3 episodes about the life of Leutnant Martin who arrives in his new block of East-Berlin, called 'Schwanenkietz'. At first he is not happy with his moving into this area but soon he gets acquainted with all the inhabitants and their own stories. He falls in love with the teacher Karin Lindau who has her own troubles with the high school students. He supports former criminal Eule in finding a new job in the building brigade and tracks down Eule's pal Tatze who always lands in jail and won't learn a lesson. Jürgen Zartmann portrays the title role of the 'ABV' (Abschnittsbevollmächtigter) and there are more lovable characteractors from the GDR. Still in black and white we get a very atmospheric view of the 'other' Germany. Here the Volkspolizei is featured as they really were: the helping hand of the Republic, always in action to secure the safety of the people. Throughout the series we learn about the true nature of a socialist state and the blessings of this non-materialist country. A must-see for everybody who wants to see how happy life was in the GDR!

This is really another beauty of Edward D Wood jr's oeuvre: it brings back to the screen his former star Duke Moore, introduces a gay couple (a lovable and...weird pair of boys!), a girl who performs some kind of an oriental dance and lots of nudity of course. Linda Colpin repeats her role from Wood's "The photographer" and you just can see that all the people working on this picture had a hell of a good time. Watch it!!!

When I read the text for this movie on the videobox it said "more suspense than a tv screen can take" and "the most explosive and shocking movie" I thought that it naturally would be exaggerated, but this IS quite a horrifying picture. It deals with the Japanese occupation during WWII, and shows graphically for instance torture, rape (although there is no nudity) and gouged eyes, impaled bodies, broken necks etc I don't know whether this movie, which bares the English title "Blazing battle", was meant as an eastern (there is a lot of karate) or as a horror. It may even be historically accurate: both the Japanese and the Indonesians are cruel in their way of fighting the war. It was a bit overlong (when the Japanese surrender we continue in battle scenes as the allies are now the enemy) but the general message is clear: this was Indonesia's struggle for independence!