Friendship (4 Stars)

Friendship is good, free hugs are better. Or maybe they're both equally good, in the right context. Friendship is something that can last a lifetime, but a rightly timed hug can give a happiness boost when you need one.

This is an amazing true story. What I mean is, it's amazing that it really happened. It falls into the category that truth is stranger than fiction. There are certain changes made for the sake of dramatisation, but the main events are true. The biggest change is that in the film two friends travel from Germany to America, but in the true events it was a larger group of young men. That's an appropriate change. It means that the viewer has less characters to get used to.

The film takes place in 1990, between the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 1989) and the reunification of Germany (October 1990). It was an awkward transitional period, marked by events that I summarised in my review of "Goodbye Lenin". It might be useful for you to read through the list of events to get a rough idea of what was happening. I lived in Germany at the time, though far from Berlin. For me it was confusing. There were news reports every day, with the political situation following faster than I could follow it.

In these turbulent days the two young men Tom and Veit decide to travel to America. Their passports and their drivers licenses say they come from the DDR, and the general reaction in America is, "What's that? Is it a club?" They want to travel to San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge, but they only have enough money to fly to New York and they have to hitchhike the rest of  the way. Eventually a trusting American lends them his brother's car. That's one of the things that's so hard to believe. What sort of man would let a stranger or group of strangers drive his car across America?

The boys make their experiences with the American police. Are all American policewomen this sexy? It's enough to make me want to get arrested. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like she's in the mood for a hug.

The poor boys have to be searched thoroughly. They have difficulty explaining why there's a Darth Vader helmet in their trunk. After all, they've never seen any of the Star Wars films, so they have no idea what it is. Someone else put it there! Honest!

In New Mexico they make money by selling pieces of rocks that they claim are parts of the Berlin Wall. That's easy to believe. Americans are stupid enough to fall for a con trick like that. Most Americans, anyway. I apologise to my American friends who're reading this.

The most difficult thing to believe is that they made money in Las Vegas by becoming strippers in a gay bar, wearing Russian army uniforms and dancing to the East German national anthem. In the DVD's extra features Tom Zickler, who's based the story on himself, shows photos to prove that he really did it.

It's a cute buddy movie and road movie that skates a thin line between comedy and drama. I strongly recommend the film to anyone who can speak German.

A friendship like this is worth more than hugs. But I'd rather have both.

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P. S. Blogger annoyed me today. I wanted to write this review earlier, but there was a software update and I couldn't upload any photos. I was prepared to write this review re-using my old photos, but luckily it's been fixed now.