Friedliche Zeiten (2008) Reviews

• Peaceful times, not so peaceful movie

  Horst_In_Translation2016-05-20

  "Friedliche Zeiten" is a German movie from almost 10 years ago directed by Neele Leana Vollmar, who is still making movies today. Very recently, her newest "Rico and Oskar" film came out. This one here is not really for such a young audience as their most recent work, but it is still a good watch for people of all age groups I believe. This film succeeded in a fairly difficult challenge, namely creating the perfect mixture of a historically relevant film and a film that focuses on everyday life of the protagonists. The female main character's relationships are very much in the center here, be it with her children or her man. The movie runs for approximately 90 minutes, slightly longer I think and is another of these GDR-themed films from Germany. But the good thing is, it does not try to be too relevant or even revolutionary, just goes for depicting a somewhat authentic of what life was back then and how people tried to cope, really more with their personal lives than with the political system. And this is why I believe that this movie here turned out convincingly overall. It is not extremely ambitious, but succeeds in everything it tries to be. More people should take that approach. It may not be too bold or daring, but it can still result in a convincing work like this one here. Thumbs up.