Wie Feuer und Flamme (5 Stars)

There are some films you remember for the story, some for the characters and some because of the way they make you feel. "Wie Feuer und Flamme" (engl. "Like Fire and Flame") is a film that manages all three.

One of the things I love about the film is its atmosphere. The East Berlin scenes are particularly gloomy. The grey skies, muted colours and bleak architecture give the city a distinctive look, while the cinematography never feels as though it's trying too hard to tell us that this is a grim place. It simply looks that way.

The West Berlin scenes have a very different feeling, and I recognised some of the details immediately. Nele lives with her parents in a commune (Wohngemeinschaft), sharing their home with other people. That rang a particularly strong bell with me because I lived in West Berlin in 1976 and spent my first four weeks living in a WG. There were eight adults and a child. It was simply part of Berlin life at the time.

The music is a big part of the film's appeal. It gives the story an energy and a youthful quality that fits the characters perfectly, but it also helps establish the period without turning the soundtrack into a collection of obvious musical signposts. The music and the cinematography work together particularly well. There are moments when the images, the atmosphere and the soundtrack combine and the film becomes almost nostalgic, even though the story itself is taking place in a divided city.

And that's what makes the film work so well for me. It's a love story, but it's also a film about a particular place and time. The political division between East and West Berlin isn't just background decoration. It affects the lives of the characters and makes their relationship more complicated, but the film never forgets that these are young people falling in love.

I also like the fact that the film feels lived-in. It doesn't constantly explain Berlin to the audience. It simply shows people living there. The little details are more convincing than big political statements.

Five years had passed since my last viewing, so there was always the possibility that the film wouldn't have the same effect on me this time. It did. In fact, I appreciated some things even more than I did before, particularly the cinematography, the music and those little glimpses of the Berlin I remember.

"Wie Feuer und Flamme" was originally #91 in my Top 100, but it got pushed out by other films. That was a mistake. After watching it again, I don't know what I was thinking. I've pit it back in my top 100, where it belongs. And I shan't let it get knocked out again.