touchme-2 Review of The Red Cockatoo

The Red Cockatoo (2006)

Very authentic feeling, great performances, deserves higher ratings

[9/10 · 12 March 2006]

Broad performances, very interesting individuals in a wider story context than just a love-story or would-be-comedy about East Germany again, not so unnervingly 'funny' as »Sonnenallee« etc. The savage and insinuating violence of a dictatorial regime, the willingness of people to stick to their dream of a new society (Luise) just until it's shattered, are universal themes. The specialty of blatant disregard for the genocide and dictatorship that just took place and shook the earth is in this outcome very German. It struck me that the late regime is never a topic for those young people in the movie, the murdering of millions of innocent children, women and men because of their so called »race«. And then again, the characters are mostly too young for their part (but they surely have former Nazi-parents). But than I realized: it was never a topic in Germany as a whole those days, it was stored away in some dark cellar just to make it go away and don't come back until... a movie like »Sophie Scholl« came out about the few brave there were..., very human, very sad (even sadder that the latter became an Oscar-Nomination as even crap as »The Untergang/Downfall« did). But this movie does not pretend to be all this stuff, it is just more universal, less German, more intellectual, sensual, even the gags are more sophisticated than the regular German ones (they are good! - they make the characters edgier and even more lovable). I don't want to forget to mention the great acting, the touching love-story, the growing-up story. At first I didn't want to see another GDR-Movie but it turned out to be much more sophisticated and multi-angled than that. Very warm and focused on the characters, and Jessica Schwarz is lovably natural again without letting go the earnest part of her character - who wouldn't fall in love with her... go see it!