Sun Alley (1999)

I am sure that those who have at least their childhood (like me) spent in a pseudo-socialist undemocratic country, would watch Sonnenallee with sense of recognition, with things most of us have probably aimed to forget. On the other hand, when you are young, minor, your perceptions are still different from those of adults, who are in need of living on and supporting their family. First love, new music, friendship, coming of age, hobbies, plans for future are universal. In my opinion, all those aspects are well and realistically (now one can giggle or laugh out these absurd things) depicted in this movie, with convincing performances by an even cast. By the way, the Soviets would have vacated all streets close to their "enemy", odd that it was possible to live so close to the Berlin Wall.Furtermore, I would disagree with them who think that Sonnenallee is a kind of glorification of the GDR. Really? For nonrenovated houses, constant shortage of even crumbling goods, brainwash by authorities, fear for police and "rats", strict punishments for harmless pranks, limited travel options, etc.? Those who do had apparently a "good" life at the expense of others...I can hardly guess how films like this would act upon the people unaware of socialist dictatorships. Perhaps they would regard them as unintelligent comedies. But the film in question could be shown more within the former Eastern bloc.

The movie is fun to watch and there is a lot of truth in it, but there are also lots of inaccuracies and exaggerations - especially the first minutes are almost unbearable. Some are for the humorous effect, but I feel some are because of lack of care.'Goodbye Lenin' definitely is the better movie.The character of Miriam remains very shallow, she mutates from the teasing and arrogant girl to Micha's girlfriend, but hey, it's a comedy, character development needn't be realistic.I loved that the neighbor turns out not be in the stasi but an undertaker, and that the "rich West kid" really is a valet parking cars and gets into deep trouble in the end.So after all, there are stabs at both East and West Germans. Fair play.

i laughed the whole way through. the no-name actors gave this film a breath of reality, and after this triumph, i'm sure we'll see much more of them. it would have been easy for this film to bog itself down in the muck of trying to do something really serious with the subject matter and situations, but it remained light and playful and self-mocking. i was actually scared by how much the characters reminded me of my own family! i'm not sure what that says about me, but it makes for some hillarious scenes in the film. everyone should see this comic gem that proves germans have a great sense of humor and can laugh at themselves along with everyone else.

I caught this one on a long flight from Singapore to Vancouver in German with English subtitles and I really loved it, it was really funny and sad in some ways at the same time.I probably can relate to it more than the average North American because I grew up in Europe, but I think the movie would be very enjoyable for more or less everybody, and surely better than some crappy movies recently seen on this side of the oceanHighly recommended if you can find it.