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Reviews
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998)
Summary of film misleadingly off-center.
Let the cyber reader beware! Reading the summary as well as the first User Comment about this movie, "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, which I viewed recently [2004], stunned a 4-letter word out of my mouth. These two viewers seem blissfully unaware of any knowledge of James Jones or his times. Nor do they show even a basic appreciation for film or narrative methods. If they cannot support their assertions about the film--that it is "emotionless" for instance--with some reference to accepted standards of drama or acting, we must assume that they know no better. My question is this: why does such an important site for movie-lovers accept such limited summations of films to remain on the site?
Good Bye Lenin! (2003)
The theme of secrets and lies -- whether to hide faults or protect -- is woven throughout and makes for a deeply moving film.
The story begins in East Germany with footage of the early cosmonauts and the hero worship one small boy feels for the East German cosmonaut. It ends with a fictional broadcast of the (fictional) cosmonaut announcing an end to a divided Germany.
The boy grew into a young man who created a fictional world to protect his idealistic socialist mother (as he saw her) from suffering a second, fatal heart attack.
The film examines the deep fear of political reprisal during the Soviet regimes, the painful dislocation of flight to the West, and reveals how secrets and lies have shaped both the government and this small family.
Alex's efforts to shield his ailing mother from any hint of change, including finding discarded jars with familiar labels and creating bogus TV news, provide a wild and heart-warming humor to the middle part of the story. The ending brings back the long-absent father as well as insights and resolutions for everyone. The final celebratory sky rocket serves as the perfect exclamation point to a film full of surprises and the expectation of surprises.