Comparatively few films deal the aftermath of war. Sorry, it’s just not as exciting. In the current zeal to tell real life war stories, this one feels a bit like we’ve run out of them and we’re collecting scraps like seagulls after a football game. Bye Bye Germany even namedrops Oskar Schindler as if to taunt the audience with, “Remember that war film? Now, that was a good one. This one … kinda meh.”
David Bermann (Moritz Bleibtreu – a weird combination of Tom Hanks and John Waters) is a resident of the post-war Frankfort civilian Jewish ghetto. The occupying United States military has set the rules for residents and decided the former POW doesn’t get a business license, nyah, nyah. Bermann is incredulous at the news as the US has been handing them out like candy to the war-torn survivors. Something is amiss here.
Undaunted, the resourceful Bermann collects friends and starts a linens business. Everybody in the circle has the same objective – leave Germany ASAP. The crippled remains of the Third Reich are an awful place to be, even with new tablecloths. Coincidental with the business starting to move, Americans suddenly want to know more about David Bermann’s wartime experience. Special Agent Sara Simon says, “Let’s bring him in every day for questioning.” This part of the tale is on the far-fetched side – how long does it take to talk about your stint in a POW camp? Surely not weeks, right? But, let’s face it; there aren’t a whole lot of females in this story and Sara (Antje Traue) makes for both a possible jailor and romantic interest – could you say that of Colonel Klink, huh? David, and apparently at least part of this is true, was something of a stand-up comic in his concentration camp, so much so that he attracted the positive attention of his Nazi overlords, and thus earned himself an American double-take postwar.
The charm of this picture is in its balance between the selling linens business, which thrives on lies, juxtaposed with the wartime tale in which the guy who got a better prison life by telling jokes to Nazis is asked to relay his memories as soberly as possible. “Why, yes, we lie a lot in our business … why, yes, I lied a bunch to the Nazis to save my skin … but rest assured, I’m telling you the truth now.” Yeah, they’re sure to buy that.
Neither the tale of present nor past is exactly a gem. Both had moments. One standout includes a linen seller faking his way into some broken hearts by pretending he was an army buddy of good ol’ Heinrich when
they fought Russian bandits together. When a toast is made to the fallen man, the parents call out, “To Heine!” while the Jewish linen seller reflexively announces, “L’Chaim!” Luckily, the exclamations are close enough to give the latter the benefit of the doubt. Needless to say, he makes a sale … and gets lunch for his efforts.
Bye Bye Germany is kind of a warm-up for hard-hitting war drama. The film contains some of the trappings of war like assassination plots and skeletal remains of bombed cities, yet mostly it plays like a poor man’s Judgment at Nuremberg. This is war-lite; it’s not dishonest, but it only hints at the worst WWII had to offer. It’s enjoyable, if unremarkable, and will likely go Bye-Bye from your memory the minute it does the same on screen.
♪Bye bye Reich
Bye bye kraut SS
Hello there, US
I think I’m gonna fly
I live in Frankfort
With other Jews
The war was awful
Oh, like that’s news
We’re gonna leave here
Soon as we can
We just need money
And Superman♫
Not Rated, 102 Minutes
Director: Sam Gabarski
Writer: Michel Bergmann
Genre: Post war blues
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: WWII survivors
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who need a war film to include some, y’know, war
♪ Parody Inspired by “Bye Bye Love”
