I recently went to see the German movie Amrum, drawn by its great rating, and the WWII setting, although I didn’t know a single name associated with the movie, except Diane Kruger in a minor role.
In case you’re curious, it’s focused on a young boy, Nanning, in the last days of the war, living on a remote island, Amrun, where he has a placid life, living with his young pregnant mother and aunt, along with younger siblings, going to the town school, working for a local farmer (very useful given the wartime food shortages), palling around with his best friend. Still, there are tensions, especially given the aggressively pro-Nazi stance of his mother, who grills Nanning when he innocently asks a question that may have a whiff of defeatist treason in her view. As Germany is undeniably losing, she goes into an almost catatonic depression. But, determined to provide some miraculous cheer, Nanning doggedly sets about collecting the rare ingredients to provide his mother with white bread and butter with honey, which has become her sole interest. This is not easy, and in fact even leads him into danger, but this is his secret quest
But I was particularly surprised, given the good reviews, that we were the ONLY people in the empty theater. I realize that this kind of cool, restrained realism won’t appeal to people who only love action movies, but it was depressing.
Then I started wondering, what happened to German movies. A few decades ago there were a handful of current German directors with prominent names, almost close to being household names: Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Volker Schlöndorff.
I suspect that if you stopped random people, even moviegoers standing in line for a movie, most wouldn’t be able to name a since German director. I don’t think there has been a “big” German movie since Run Lola Run. Or maybe The Lives of Others.
So, anything similar in the U.K.? Is the German movie industry stagnating? Or is it vibrant and flourishing, but the movies aren’t making it to the United States? Or is it that Americans aren’t much interested in realistic movies, preferring over-hyped superhero stories? Or are Americans now so insular that they’re uninterested in the larger world?