Ich bin ein Berliner (4 Stars)

After the second World War Germany was occupied by the four allied powers, America, England, France and Russia, and divided into four zones. Since all four countries wanted control of Germany's capital, Berlin itself was divided into four zones as well, even though Berlin was situated in the middle of the Russian occupied zone. The land to the east of the so-called Oder-Neisse line was given to Poland. East Prussia was claimed by Russia. In the west Alsace, Lorraine and Saarland were given to France. Austria, which had voted to combine itself with Germany in 1938, was made an independent country again.

In May 1949 the three western zones of Germany were combined and the Federal Republic of Germany (commonly called West Germany) was founded, an independent country although still occupied by foreign troops. In response Russia allowed the formation of the German Democratic Republic (called East Germany) in October 1949, nominally an independent country, but with its policies dictated by Russia. Since Berlin did not officially belong to the German occupation zones the American, English and French parts of Berlin did not become part of West Germany, but combined to become West Berlin. The Russian sector of Berlin, however, was combined with the Russian zone of Germany and became the capital of East Germany. Unofficially, at least. Neither the western powers nor the United Nations ever recognised Berlin as the capital of East Germany.

After 1949 travel between the two halves of Berlin was still allowed, although Russian soldiers harrassed people crossing at the more common checkpoints. This led to large numbers of East Germans entering West Berlin as a stepping stone to reach West Germany. This was stopped in 1961 when a wall was built surrounding West Berlin. The wall was built without warning, so anyone who was on the outside of the Wall when it was built was not allowed to return, even if it was a young child who had been visiting relatives or a married man who had been on a business trip. In the West this wall was called the Berlin Wall, while its official name in East Germany was the Anti-Fascist Protection Wall.

As a show of support for the people of West Berlin President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin in June 1963. He held a passionate speech which ended with the words, "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, Ich bin ein Berliner".

This was a source of great amusement to the Germans. Despite apologetics by American linguists, unfortunately propagated by serious websites such as Wikipedia, this was a monumental mistake.

Ich = I
bin = am
ein = a
Berliner = Berliner

That's what the president wanted to say. "I am a Berliner". So what's wrong? This is a matter of basic German grammer. In German, when you attribute to a person a career or nationality, including towns or districts, the indefinite article is omitted. So "I am a man" would be "Ich bin ein Mann", but "I am a soldier" is "Ich bin Soldat" and "I am an American" is "Ich bin Amerikaner". Adding the indefinite article in either of the latter cases is a mistake made commonly by foreigners living in Germany. If the president had been speaking in Stuttgart and had said "Ich bin ein Stuttgarter" it would have been treated as a slight grammatical slip.

Unfortunately the word "Berliner" has another meaning in German. It refers to a jelly doughnut. While the word "Berliner" is ambiguous in itself, meaning either a doughnut or a citizen of Berlin, adding the indefinite article in the above sentence makes it unambiguous. President Kennedy said "I am a doughnut". The president's speech would have been just as amusing if he had been speaking in Hamburg or Frankfurt.

So much for the history lesson, and this crass example of a case where a Wikipedia page gives wrong information. Now to the film, which takes place in 2005. After his mother's death Felix Rath, a petty conman living in Berlin, discovers love letters written by President Kennedy to his aunt in 1963. He uses this as a chance to claim that his aunt was his real mother and he is President Kennedy's son. When he tries to sell this story to a newspaper a journalist investigates and finds out that the story is true. Suddenly Felix is being stalked by the CIA, and he needs to falsify evidence to prove that he isn't Kennedy's son.

This is a low key comedy, full of ironies, very enjoyable, but only if you speak German. No English version is available of this film, neither dubbed nor subtitled.