SYNOPSICS
Westen (2013) is a German,English,Russian,Polish movie. Christian Schwochow has directed this movie. Jördis Triebel,Tristan Göbel,Jacky Ido,Anja Antonowicz are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2013. Westen (2013) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
East Germany. Summer, late 70's. Three years after her boyfriend Wassilij's apparent death, Nelly Senff decides to escape from behind the Berlin wall with her son Alexej, leaving her traumatic memories and past behind. Pretending to marry a West German, she crosses the border to start a new life in the West. But soon her past starts to haunt her as the Allied Secret Service begin to question Wassilij's mysterious disappearance. Is he still alive? Was he a spy? Plagued by her past and fraught with paranoia, Nelly is forced to choose between discovering the truth about her former lover and her hopes for a better tomorrow.
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Westen (2013) Reviews
Brilliant, German, period refugee story
In 1975 Nelly's husband left her for a business trip – he never came back from Russia. We pick up the story three years later when she and her young son Alexej are given permission by the DDR – German Democratic Republic - to emigrate to the West. Original title of this German film is 'Westen' and it is in both German and English with good sub titles). Once she gets to the 'Promised Land' she discovers that things are not as rosy as she had been informed. This is her story. There is a lot more to it than above and it is timely for a release at the moment to show how attitudes were then to refuges and how, sadly, little has really changed. The period detail is excellent; the acting is great with Jördis Triebel as Nelly doing a performance that will guarantee future work offers. The issues that are dealt with are done in a way to show the human cost of prejudicial and judgmental attitudes, but there is a lot of love here too. This is one of those films that when it is over it will leave you wanting more – an easy one to recommend.
East vs. West
A document of a time passed by. And while I don't think this feels to dated (if you let yourself into the mood and time when the movie playing), you will like what you see. It's a story about people trying to survive, while being confronted by politics and paranoia. It isn't (or rather wasn't easy) to live like this. Even harder to survive when you try to stay in the middle. While some might argue that this feels like a movie of the week type, I'd disagree. It might have a story line that is close to that, but the acting and the framing, lighting and everything else point out that this is more than that. If you like your drama to feel as real as possible (with touches of a thriller), here you go
The institution of trust
As it's name suggests, Christian Schwochow's 'West' is a film about the West, but also the East: specifically, about cold-war Germany. Its central protagonist, wonderfully played by the beautiful Joerdis Triebel, is a somewhat arrogant east German who, on crossing the iron curtain, struggles to cope with the demands made of an unconnected immigrant in a strange country; but who also struggles with the legacy of her past. The film neither glosses over the evils of the eastern regime, nor suggests that life in the west is a simple panacea; above all else, it demonstrates the fatal way that police states damage the institution of trust in a way that cannot easily be repaired. The ambiguous figure of a rumoured informer provides a focus for a powerful story that is ultimately more about people than systems.
West is best?
A drama about a mother and son who manage to emigrate from East Germany to West Germany during the era of the Cold War. The transition is complicated by the ongoing requirements of the immigration centre in order to obtain West German citizenship. Further complications arise as her son's father, who they believed dead from an accident in the Soviet Union, is suspected by Western secret services of being alive and having been a Stasi agent. The mother moves inexorably towards paranoia as she becomes unsure of who she can actually trust. The film captures the atmosphere of the period through incidents, detail and setting. However, at times the film appears a little too concerned with appealing to a potentially broad audience through intrigue, romance and melodrama; understandable but perhaps occasionally unfortunate.
Another solid GDR/FRG movie
When I watched this film, it was titled "Westen" (The West), but it looks like they're going with "Lagerfeuer" (Campfire) now. Anyway, based on a novel this movie was written by Heide Schwochnow and directed by her son Christian, a true family project not too common in the world of modern movie-making. For those two, it's already their fourth project together. Jördis Triebel won the German Film Award for Best Lead Actress here and while I liked her performance, I have to say I thought Juliane Köhler would have been my choice. My favorite performance in "Lagerfeuer" comes from Alexander Scheer who some of you might know from "Sonnenallee". He plays the love interest to Triebel's character here and so does Jacky Ido ("Inglourious Basterds"), who to some extent represents the main character's arrival in the west. Scheer on the other hand, stands for her roots in the East. There is no real solution which path Triebel's character chooses, although a lot links to Scheer. All in all, it's an okay movie, doing justice to the whole GDR topic including an interesting part about all the different stamps you need to become a FRG citizen, but also bringing nothing really new to a table that has been laid uncountable times. Tristan Göbel shows that he is one of the more talented child actors Germany currently has and his character included some interesting references such as his scarf or the way school looked like back then in general. What I also liked about the movie is that there is no solution too the boy's father's disappearance. It's just not all black and white. Finally, I think the film is worth a watch for those who are interested in the whole East/West Germany conflict or just like movies centered around strong female characters. All others can skip.