East Side Story (1997)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Dana Ranga

Writers:

Andrew Horn (writer)
Dana Ranga (writer)

Release Date:

25 June 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Tagline:

All Singing! All Dancing! All Marxist Musicals!

Plot:

A look at Communist musicals that strove to be ideologically correct - and entertaining, besides.

Plot Keywords:

Film Making | Filmmaking | Communism

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Margarita Andrushkovich	...	Herself (as Margarita Andruschkovitsch)
Chris Doerk	...	Herself
Erich Gusko	...	Himself
Helmut Hanke	...	Himself
Barbara Harnisch	...	Party Girl
Brit Krüger	...	Party Girl
Andrea Schmidt	...	Party Girl
Frank Schöbel	...	Himself
Karin Schröder	...	Herself
Maya Turovskaya	...	Herself (film historian)
Brigitte Ulbrich	...	Herself
Hans-Joachim Wallstein	...	Himself

Runtime:

75 min | USA:78 min

Country:

France | Germany

Language:

German | Russian | Polish | Romanian | Bulgarian | Czech

Color:

Black and White | Color

Certification:

Spain:T

Filming Locations:

DEFA Studio für Dokfilm, Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Company:

Anda Film

Quotes:

Narrator: This is the odyssey of a filmmaker searching for music, fun and colors in the world of ambiguity and suspicion - the world behind the Iron Curtain.

Movie Connections:

Features Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse (1955)

Fascinating portrayal of a film genre I had no idea even existed

When one thinks of Soviet cinema, the propaganda masterpieces of Eisenstein or the somber meditations of Tarkovsky generally come to mind. They're great films sure, but generally not the most entertaining material out there. However, the countries within the Iron Curtain apparently enjoyed their escapist musicals just as much as the states had. In fact, from the 1930s up until the 70s, forty of these song-and-dance extravaganzas were released to much adoration by the public. However, they are completely unheard of in the West, so this documentary attempts to rectify that situation. It does a terrific job of both showcasing these films and putting them into the proper cultural context. Despite the fact I've never been a fan of musicals, I found this documentary to be completely compelling from beginning to end. It goes to prove that, no matter how many films you manage to see in your lifetime, you're only skimming the surface of whats out there.

As for the film clips themselves, they're very entertaining. While some of the musicals are blatant propaganda showing workers singing of how much they love working under the regime, some of the films (particularly the later ones) look quite accomplished from a production standpoint. Plus, they are all extremely campy because of how alien they are to my western eyes. There's a few similarities between them and the American musicals I'm used to, but the presence of strict government enforcing of a message gives them a surreal edge. They certainly don't resemble the musicals made in the West. This documentary is both one of the most bizarre and entertaining films I've seen in recent memory, and its an absolute must-see for any film buff. (9/10)