Describe Sonnenallee (Sun Avenue) is a 1999
comedy
film about life in East
Berlin in the late 1970s. The movie was directed by Leander Haußmann. The film was released shortly before
the corresponding novel, Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee (At the Shorter End
of Sonnenallee). Both the book and the screenplay were written by Thomas Brussig and while they are based on the same
characters and setting, differ in storyline significantly. Both the
movie and the book emphasize the importance of pop-art and in
particular, pop music, for the youth of East Berlin. The Sonnenallee is an actual street in
Berlin that was intersected by the border between East and West during
the time of the Berlin Wall, although it bears little
resemblance to the film set. Michael (or 'Micha') is a 17-year-old growing up in communist
East Germany (GDR) in the 1970s. He spends his time with his
friends listening to banned pop music, partying and trying to win over
the heart of Miriam, who is dating a West Berlin boy. Over the course of
the movie his best friend Mario, falls for an existentialist, gets
kicked out of school and subsequently discovers he is going to be a
father. The closing of the movie upsets Micha's thus far idealistic
life, as Mario sells out his ideals by signing up for military service
to support his girlfriend and the child. Furthermore, his young blonde
friend, Wuschel, is shot by a GDR guard, but survives, thanks to The Rolling Stones double album Exile on Mainstreet in which the bullet has lodged. The
young boy is devastated, however, prominently displaying the importance
of pop music in their lives. Later, he gets a new copy by using the 50
West-German Mark that he gets from Miriam's ex-boyfriend when the latter
causes him to crash his bike (accidentally). The film ends with a crowd
of East Berliners advancing on the Berlin Wall entry/exit gate and
singing The Letter by The
Box Tops, led by Michael and Wuschel, who jump down from the
balcony they were perched and seemingly move through to the Western
side.
Sonnenallee
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