ddr/ddr - a film psychoanlysis of stasi culture

-- the tribe of east german indians, confident spies, and psychoanalysts on the coach are the lens through which amie siegel cleverly scrutinizes the former german democratic republic in a documentary that is highly enjoyable to watch

it asks a lot but gives a lot, at least a lot of material for debate. the 2008 movie called ddr/ddr by u.s. american director amie siegel tackles the deutsche demokratische republik or german democratic republic cum communist germany from three corners: psychoanalysis, east germans playing native americans, and the stasi, the secret service back then. weaving in and out of these themes are the questions of observing and being observed, seeing and being seen, and the natural and artificial eyes that do the watching.

for over two hours this artistic documentary strings together simple but visually compelling scenes, fictional elements, parodies, narratives by the director, and interviews with stasi operators and victims, psychoanalysts, and the deliciously open east german hobby indians.

the movie dares to move slowly, to let frames stand and develop, to take time for answers longer than sound bites, for the charmingly grammatically wrong questions in german by amie siegel.

over half a year she pursued one of the two stasi employees, siegel said, who tell about meetings in conspiratorial apartment [konspirative wohnungen], the zeal with which they pursued their targets, how they taught psychological tools to grind down a human. original stasi film footage is part of the project to view how people were viewed.

two psychoanalysts talk about the absence of this form of therapy in the ddr. one of them reveals her own acquaintance with sigmund freud, that is, the im [short for informeller mitarbeiter, an informal employee of the secret service] spy who relayed information about her life to the government. after the wende, the time of change in 1989/1990 whose translation into english is hotly and humorously debated in the movie, the psychoanalyst confronts the former spy about the damage he did to her personal life. brazenly he depicts himself as a victim of his career. the satisfying end to the story is a successful letter to the german psychoanalyst association that robs the former spy of his right to become a psychoanalyst himself.

with the introduction of the ddr indians, the movie breaks a bit away from the surveillance theme that otherwise penetrates the movie heavily. lightly the hobby indians talk about their complicated life in the ddr: indians were u.s. american culture ergo forbidden back then. on the other hand, indians were also oppressed by the greedy capitalist white people and gave a foil to identify with for the underdog ddr bordering on western imperialism itself. laughter in the audience barely died down when siegel cut together opener after opener of ddr indian flicks, presented references to the red men on one side, the whites and their obsession with gold on the other. reds everywhere but how to deal with them remained a confusion to ddr functioneers. as siegel's movie is witness, the indian week celebrated once a year by the ddr indians has survived the wende.

the film essay comes close to a living museum highlighting some aspects of the ddr past, leaving out others.

her target audience is she herself, said siegel. psychoanlysis and surveillance are recurrent themes within her oeuvre, she said, which she just applied to a new territory. there is no claim to objectivity, she said. she deliberately left out names and titles of all interviewees as they would suggest a culture of expertise where only subjectivity can exist.

alone the chosen title ddr, not communist germany, not east germany, not gdr, should peak the curiosity of anyone who wants to learn more about the other, the lost germany.

the movie unfortunately is rather exclusive and only shown in select screenings in the united states, germany, and even spain. check out dates and watch this well thought through, apposite, and aesthetically fresh portrait of ddr culture and its demise if you get a chance.


locations of interest:

BERLIN:

Screening: DDR/DDR
DAAD Galerie
Berlin, Germany
Tuesday, October 20, 7pm

Screening: DDR/DDR
Feinkost Galerie
Berlin, Germany
Thursday, December 10, 7pm

NEW YORK:

Screening: DDR/DDR
Anthology Film Archives, New York
Thursday, April 16, 8pm

official puristic website of amie siegel with still shots of the movie, siegel's biography, and contact information. siegel said to arrange a screening it is best to contact her studio.