germany, 1970, germanI don’t know man… it’s all just so damn stylish. But, like, also… what the hell was going on with that maid?
RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER
The American Soldier
I watched this more than a week ago, so we are firmly back in “what do I even remember” territory here. Ah well. I long ago accepted that if this is the price I have to pay to keep doing this, then that’s just how it is. We will stumble forward, as we always do!
To be honest, I still remember what I wanted to talk about anyway, so we’re pretty good here. Long time readers may, or may not, know that I have a German wife, and German speaking kids. I have also been learning German myself for the past twelve years or so, and, to be honest, I’m pretty decent. The last few years of going to Germany, no one has switched to English at any point. It’s an accomplishment I’m proud of, after all I don’t know anyone who says German is an easy language to learn.
So. I speak German. I am watching a German film. Can I watch the film with no subtitles? Almost. But, extremely annoyingly, not quite. I understood probably 85-90% of what was said, but it was just enough that I missed, or wasn’t quick enough with, that I ended up turning back on the subtitles. Which presented a different problem, that of the subtitles not matching the words perfectly, and making it even harder to follow the film.
The perfect solution, other than continuing to improve my German, is if I had German subtitles. I think that would have helped immensely. But, unsurprisingly, this comes with only English subtitles. That makes sense, especially for an Eclipse title, but man it’s a frustrating experience. Luckily, the film was really fun, and the dialogue is honestly pretty minimal anyway, so it didn’t ruin anything.