Merkel

Angela Merkel will be remembered as an utmost decent politician and nowadays that is a rarity. In a testosteron dominated working environment, she somehow managed to stay human, compassionate and determined to be true to her personal convictions.

I lived in Berlin when the wall came down. The documentary states that this was a decisive moment in the career of Angela Merkel and having been on the spot, it is understandable to me what motivated her to consolidate this acquired freedom. She truly did all within her possibilities to shape the reunified Germany.

In the documentary it also becomes clear what a despicable coward Wladimir Putin (on his high heels!) is. See for yourself; you can only conclude how determined and brave Angela Merkel is.

I think it is bizarre how one can produce a feature length documentary on Merkel and not even once mention seminal episodes in her political career, such as the European debt crisis, the war in Eastern Ukraine, or the Fukushima disaster and her exit from nuclear energy.

Instead a lot time is spent on her relationship with American presidents, and a bit with Putin. The 'experts' in the documentary are an endless parade of major and minor American political figures, who offer very few new insights, mostly well-known and worn-out takes (strong woman, principled, last democrat standing, etc), so sometimes it's not clear if they have any specific first hand knowledge at all, or they just read it in the NY Times editorial of 2019.

Not one single continental European politician appears, apart from a number of Germans. It would have been very relavant to hear a Greek perspective (Varoufakis), or any other European leader who was in the room with Merkel during the endless crisis negatitation in 2011-2013, when the risk of total European financial meltdown was very real. Maybe a French person in the circle of Macron? A Ukranian, a Russian, who experienced the negatiations around Ukraine?

Many missed opportunities to give a complete picture of Merkel, instead we just get a narrow (liberal) American lens.

The only interesting part was her youth in the GDR, and her views on that.

The documentary "Merkel" about the 14 year German Reichskansler starts with a speech she is to hold at an American University where she is introduced as "the real leader of the European Union".

We then go to see Donald Trump talking about her first in a good way, then in a bad way.

This tells a lot. The first female Reichskansler in Germany came from a small pace in East Germany, then known as DDR, and has kept power as a kansler for the German Christian Democratic Party to su extent that people all over the world are worried when she was to step down.

This documentary is just a lot of clips with her, no narration through the program, except a professor telling about her upbringing, and interviews of persons talking about her, and still we get to know this special modest woman who became a world leader.

I enjoyed this, and leave it with more respect for her than i had before. The world needs more politicians like her, even if I don't particularly like her political party views.

When I was young, I found the few brief documentaries padding the "shorts" rather boring. Bring on Hopalong or the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Later full-length nonfiction features started to appear, with some Art and Interest, such as the efforts of David Wolper, where it was a treat to be educated, to see real people, History. Gems arrived such as "The Fog of War" "Sugarman" and Amy" and the work of Michael Moore. A well-done documentary now can be every bit as entertaining as the wild fiction on the screen.

I have not seen "Looking for Merkel" (I shall seek it out) -but I enjoyed "Merkel" by Eva Weber. Yes, it is incomplete, there is not much on the actual policies enacted by the Chancellor or her effect on Germany or Europe, apart from the reliance on Russian energy and the acceptance of refugees. The film suggests the latter may have been influenced by her younger years behind a Wall.

To me the main feature of the film was to flesh out who is Angela Merkel, what is she like, through her response to interviews- measured, and I thought candid - and comments from peers such as Blair and Obama. From these she appeared a thoroughly decent individual, free from the hubris and want of adulation so commonly seen. Expressed in a banal way, it looked to me like she wanted to "Do a Good Job".

I think the comparison with other countries was valid. This is a slice of History and features one of the major players. Some vignettes were striking, Putin with his dog, Trump with his petulant scowl disdaining the photographer's request for a photo that she so gently mentioned though probably didn't much want. The "men" team didn't look that good!

When she bade farewell at the end of her reign to a conga line of politicians, each one got a 10 second, intense fix of the Merkel eyes so strong you could have walked over it. She is Human but a better example than we often see in the "Ruler" brigade. I left with much respect for her.

Angela Merkel is a great subject. But her background story is so glossed-over in this new film that after last year's 'Looking For Merkel' by Marion Van Renterghem, it's such a disappointment.

This film is more interested in American Presidents Trump and Obama, rather than how and why a woman could come from behind the Iron Curtain and inspire the 'Free World'.

Significant to Merkel's story is that she came from East Berlin where under communism, women had much greater equality than in the so-called free west. It's a fantastic story that gives a great perspective on East Germany where the young Angela's father moved to from the west. (One reason was that protestants were more accepted in the East than in catholic West Germany, which was dominated by men and corporate capitalism which stifled the role of women.)

A highly political young woman (not covered in 'Merkel'), she was shocked that despite being an eminent physicist, she became a second-class citizen in the west and was judged on her hair and clothing (again, omitted in Merkel).

'Looking For Merkel' by Marion Van Renterghem is available on Kanopy, Vimeo and other platforms and I rate it 9.