In German with English subtitles, the movie Rabbit A La Berlin
weaves together then and now footage of rabbits and people into a parable for modern times, and its 40 minutes examine the days of the cold war, and the after effects, from a different and fascinating perspective.The colourful graffiti covered surface of West Berlin's side of the Berlin Wall contrasted dramatically with the grey concrete Eastern side, which, as there were soldiers and secret and non-secret police everywhere, no one would have dared to go anywhere near even carrying a can of any type of paint, much less actually use it.
From both sides it was impossible to miss the wall that ran through Berlin from 1961 until 1989, separating the city and symbolising the partition of the East and West of Germany and Europe.
But there was another side to the wall, as a group of rabbits had lived in the area before the concrete went up. Not rabbits of the cuddly, and well fed variety because this was Potsdamer Platz, a central area of Berlin that had been razed to the ground during WWII and never rebuilt, so life for the rabbits, and any other wild life, was rather spartan. With the arrival of the wall these rabbits suddenly found themselves living in its shadow, trapped in what became 'no mans land'.
However although this meant they lost their freedom, such that it was in Potsdamer Platz, as the film shows their life style and standard of living improved enormously.
What was, for any citizen who tried to escape from the eastern side of the wall, a grass covered death strip, became for the rabbits a paradise and, although they were the only ones able to freely enter the West, it was only in later years that a few bothered to leave it, and the security, limitless food and lack of natural predators that were to be found there.
However towards the end of 1989 the wall came down and they were free once more, yet, as with many of the population from the former East Germany and Eastern Europe, their freedom came at a price, left to look after themselves, life, even survival, became difficult.
Together with some of the human population many of the rabbits chose to move to the West, where, unused to traffic, noise or searching for food, and with no natural caution, they were soon a delicacy not only for roaming cats and dogs but also people. Their numbers rapidly decreased. The few colonies of underweight, nervous animals that are shown scavenging in Germany's capital Berlin bear no relation to the population from the days of the wall.
Similarly the fall of the wall also required the making of, or failing to make, difficult adjustments for many of those from the former Eastern Bloc countries.
East Germany had been considered one of the most successful of the socialist states, with full employment, although it was not always possible to know what the employment was the people were both occupied and paid. Together with social and gender equality, an advanced educational system, low cost housing, transport network, easy availability of sporting activities, culture in all forms open to everyone, and security.
As with the Berlin rabbits freedom for East German citizens came at a cost. Almost at once jobs and job security disappeared, women who had always enjoyed equality found they no longer had it, the education system suffered because for various reasons teachers, lecturers, and academics were not allowed to work, the East German mark was re-valued destroying the export market, and, unable to compete against western competition, the heavily subsidised and often inefficient heavy industry and farming businesses collapsed.
Support structures of all types disappeared and in many ways a social breakdown took place. Publically owned assets were rapidly privatised and sold to whoever wanted to buy them, and many, just as rapidly, were shut down. Reasons given included that the workforce was not competitive, were naive, or lazy, all of which led to those in the East becoming defensive.
For the majority of the population not everything that had come from the GDR had been worthless, not everyone had been persecuted or victimised and, despite well documented problems, within certain limits life had been good. Not only in retrospect had their country and their former way of life more positive sides than bad.
Similar to the rabbits who had lived securely in their sanctuary within the death zone, generations of East Germans had lived in and experienced a completely different culture, and for them the 1990's became the time when adapting to a new system became a necessity.
Many did adjust and succeeded brilliantly, especially amongst the young, however many of those who were in their forties and older in 1989 never worked again. At the time Chancellor Kohl of Germany promised East Germany a future as a blooming landscape, but for those no longer young, without the right opportunities, or without the flexibility necessary for change, it became instead an economic wilderness.
Obvious improvements have taken place, from beautifully designed buildings and thriving industries, to state of the art hospitals and motorways, but over twenty years later average salaries are still lower, and unemployment higher, in the East.
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Bartek Konopka, the Polish director of 'Rabbit A La Berlin', said the film team were influenced by the problems experienced, and in many cases not overcome, by their own family members when faced with living in a post communist world. His father, an engineer, never worked after losing his job and died having spent the last years of his life depressed, ill and living from state benefits. In an interview Konopka said, 'We are still trying to understand them, and our main motivation for making this film is dealing with our own history'.
Catch it if you can. A DVD was released in 2011, and it is still showing in some art cinemas and online.
Photo taken in 1986 by Thierry Noir at Bethaniendamm in Berlin-Kreuzberg, courtesy de.Wikipedia, Rabbit living in Berlin Wall 'Death Zone', photo by RBB
Every day life for East German citizens was very different from that on the other side of the wall, in the western part of the country. It was limited and restricted but secure, there was Soviet driven power and little resistance, collusion and consent, and many who lived through those days now look back at them with affection. As a book or on Kindle this is a fascinating and informative story, that describes the failed experiment of East German communism and the lives of those who lived with and under it |
