November Days: Voices and Choices

The highly skilled documentarist Marcel Ophuls (The Sorrow and the Pity, Hotel Terminus) turns his sights on the reunification of Germany in this 1990 BBC program, 129 minutes long, to be shown on video. Much of this becomes in effect a critical reassessment of East Germany, with Ophuls skeptically interviewing such former officials as Communist Party chief Egon Krenz and secret police strategist Markus Wolf, and such figureheads as Bertolt Brecht’s daughter Barbara, as well as ordinary East Germans who have crossed into West Germany for the first time. He also punctuates his material with film clips and pop songs, often to make satiric points, and if these whimsical intrusions don’t always work, the nature and subtlety of his inquiry remain fascinating throughout. (Facets Multimedia Center, 1617 W. Fullerton, Friday and Saturday, November 6 and 7, 6:30 and 9:00; Sunday, November 8, 5:00 and 7:30; and Monday through Thursday, November 9 through 12, 6:30 and 9:00; 281-4114) Read more