Jana and Jan (Germany, 1992)


Figure 1.--This still shows Jana in the detention center when she first notices the newcomer Jan. He is wearing a blue set of coveralls

This is another interesting film set in East Germany. We might classify this as an Eastv German film. East Germany, of course, no longer existed. This film was, however, made in East Germany, we think with many East German personnel and actors. Of course the East German censorship was gone so political issues could be addressed honestly. The film is about a teenage couple who fall in love and face an uncertain life in the new Germany just after the Berlin wall has come down. The film is extremely grim and pessimistic. The plot is quite simple. Jan, a boy in the GDR in the fall of 1989. has just been arrested for attempting to escape to West Germany. He is incarcerated in a grim institution for juvenile delinquants where he is humilitated and forced to do menial work. He is a very alienated teenager. Jana, only slightly older, engages in a wager with other girls of the institution that she can't seduce the newcomer, and she succeeds. But what began as a sexual game turns into genuine love and the two lovers run away from the juvenile detention facility, fleeing on a stolen motorcycle.

Filmology

This is another interesting film set in East Germany. We might classify this as an Eastv German film. East Germany, of course, no longer existed. This film was, however, made in East Germany, we think with many East German personnel and actors. Of course the East German censorship was gone so political issues could be addressed honestly. The film is about a teenage couple who fall in love and face an uncertain life in the new Germany just after the Berlin wall has come down. The film is extremely grim and pessimistic. The script was written and directed by Helmut Dziuba.

Cast

Jana is played by Kristin Scheffer while Jan is acted by Rene Guss.

Plot

The plot is quite simple. Jan, a boy in the GDR in the fall of 1989. has just been arrested for attempting to escape to West Germany. He is incarcerated in a grim institution for juvenile delinquants where he is humilitated and forced to do menial work. He is a very alienated teenager. Jana, only slightly older, engages in a wager with other girls of the institution that she can't seduce the newcomer, and she succeeds. But what began as a sexual game turns into genuine love and the two lovers run away from the juvenile detention facility, fleeing on a stolen motorcycle. On their long and painful journey they meet a soldier who explains that the Communist government of East Germany has collapsed and the continue their journey into the unknown without much of anything on their minds but survival. Jana is pregnant and sick and we are led to believe that she is almost at the point of death. Jan tries to comfort her. The film ends ambiguously in a hospital with Jana in extreme labor pains. It isn't clear whether she dies or survives, but even if she does survive it is clear the the young lovers face a very grim future together. There is nothing sentimental about the treatment of the relationship between Jan and Jana, and the movie doesn't not romanticize the relationship. The film provides a sort of Romeo and Juliet relationship of true devotion admidst squallor and political nihilism with a deliberately unresolved denouement.

East German Education

This film touches on an interesting aspect of East German education which reflected Soviet educational policy. This lead to very bleak lives for the workingclass in sharp contrast to the Marxist ideal or Socialist propsaganda. East German schools were highly ascademically and politically selective. Thus young people who were not academically clecer or had parents tied into the regime, received a very basic education with little artistic enrichment. Family background could also disqualify one for advanced education. As a result, Germany has a generation of those educated in the East with very little taste for the arts, literature and music. We are unsure how this is playing out in modern Germany. Interestingly, Socialists and many liberals in the West advocate a system which treats all students equally, regardless of ability. They tend to opose enrichment programs or special schools for gifted students. They also tend to be critical of private scools. In Britain the Labour Party helped end the grammar school system, academically selective secindary schools. In America many let-wing Democrats, but not President Obasma, opose funding for charter schools.

Costuming

When Jan is captured he has a shaven head, but as the plot develops his hair grows out to resemble a crew cut. Jana has bleached hair--almost white. The costumes are mostly prison uniforms or dingy civilian clothes. This film has become something of a classic of German realism, dramatizing the plight of a young couple at the moment of transition between a divided and finally united Germany.







HBC






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Created: 7:38 PM 5/31/2010
Last updated: 7:38 PM 5/31/2010