Name: Letztes Jahr - Titanic
Genre: Documentary
Released: 1991-02-23
Duration: 1 h 48 min
Rating: 6.7

A good piece of history, but not entertaining

Voigt and crew travel Leipzig from December to December in '89 to '90. Except for about 20 seconds at the beginning and end of a train pulling into and out of the station, it's just a collection of DDR citizens talking about life, about the consequences of Reunification and their plans.

It's a good document of emotions at the time. The crew shares some intimate moments with several people, and they actually get a chance to say some relevant things. From a technical view, it's quite good - the audio and picture are just fine. We don't hear much, in America anyway, about honest film projects from the DDR.

It's really quite drab, with no narrator or background knowledge. The street scenes and events are surely familiar to people who were there at the time, but it was difficult to follow who everyone was and why they were being interviewed. Although what they have to say is interesting, I'm usually left wondering who they are. 

There's also no real statement from the interviewer/filmmaker about his own thoughts, save from the few simple questions he posits to the people he interviews. There's no statement on the power of protest to change governments, the rightness (or wrongness) of coercive governments. There's no narrator and no explanation of where one is or what is going on. I'd normally like this minimal approach, but here I found it cheap to possibly lazy.

If you want to know about the DDR, I'd start with other films/documentaries/diaries. This is interesting, but there isn't much substance to it.

German cinema is famous for its historical depth, expressionist aesthetics, and social-political engagement. It has moved from Expressionism to political reckoning, from New German Cinema's raw realism to contemporary genre experiments. Its legacy lies in both technical innovation and deep explorations of history, morality, and philosophy.

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

A small crew films Leipzig 89-90. They interview factory workers, young people, a former journalist, a Redskin and others. These individuals share their thoughts about the reunification, its consequences and their plans for the future.

The Biggest Movies and TV Coming in September

See which big screen releases you can watch from the comfort of your couch.

Theatrical Releases Coming to Streaming

Get a closer look at these actors from their many TV and streaming series roles.

Letztes Jahr - Titanic

Photos

User reviews1

Related interests

Storyline

Did you know

Top picks

Details

Tech specs

Contribute to this page

More to explore

Recently viewed