Director: Dana Ranga
Tagline: Tractor! The Musical!
I had heard rumours and seen some clips of Eastern European communist musicals before, but I never knew that someone had made a documentary about them until my research on tractors turned up this title.
Through as series of clips of the movies, interviews with the people involved in their production, audiences and recreations of party review committees, this documentary attempts to tell the story of a forgotten era of cinema from behind the Iron Curtain.
I have to say after watching this that some of these films look like the best movies ever. It is very frustrating to find out after my own further research that the amount of these movies that are actually available today can be counted on the fingers of one hand. (When I first watched this documentary back in 2005, a lot less of these movies were available.)
It is a bit sad that these films were never considered as ‘art’ when they were released, as it means that many of them were just forgotten after the fall of communism. The people involved had a hard enough time making them in the first place and they deserve recognition for their achievements.
I also liked the funny anecdotes from this movie, such as Stalin liking to laugh it up with funny movies and having a fantasy for ‘boys photographing tractors’. The views of the audience members interviewed were also great to hear as you don’t normally hear their opinions in this sort of documentary.
This documentary comes very highly recommended and I am planning on buying a copy on DVD (along with the movie ‘Hot Summer’) as soon as I am able to so I can watch it again for the great musical clips.
Rating: 9/10
Buy the documentary on VHS (DVD too expensive)
http://www.amazon.com/East-Side-Story-Margarita-Andrushkovich/dp/6304829825/
Full movie now on Youtube!
DEFA Film Library – Cinema of East Germany
http://www.umass.edu/defa/
Hot Summer clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0gO_JighOQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW8mvupM470
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WPh4gUVB-0
No Cheating, Darling! clips
Full list of films in the documentary and availability: