World Cup, Season 3, Match QF-B: Germany vs England (Jan 27th)

[joachimt]

This is match Quarter Final B of the third season of iCM Forum's Film World Cup.

Country	Original Title	English Title	Year	Manager	IMDB	ICM
Germany	Jahrgang '45	Born in '45	1965	Lilarcor	link	link
England	Of Time and the City		2008	funkybusiness	link	link

Screenshots

Jahrgang '45


Of Time and the City

Voting Rules:
- You must watch both films before you vote.
- To vote, post which of the two movies is your favorite. (note: you're ranking the individual films, not the countries)

Voting deadline = Jan 27th
Countdown till deadline

The country that ends at 1st place proceeds to the next round. The ranking of the match will be decided using these rules:
- Movie with most votes wins.
- In case of a tie the match will have a 3 day extension.

Here's a quick summary of how the tournament works

We start with 48 films from 48 countries. Each country has a manager who determines which movie will be watched. In the first round the countries are divided into 12 groups of 4. From each group the countries that end up at #1 and #2 proceed to the next round. In the 2nd round the 24 remaining countries will be divided into 8 groups of 3. The managers pick a new movie. The winner of each group proceeds to the next round. The final 8 countries compete one-on-one in the quarter finals (with a new movie of course) and so on till the final.

iCM-list of all movies in this World Cup

List of all topics related to the World Cup including previous seasons

[joachimt]

Of Time and the City fits the Rosenbaum-challenges that's currently running.

[Cocoa]

I barely remember anything about these films (I watched Of Time and the City over two years ago, while I only watched Jahrgang '45...two weeks ago...). Luckily my ratings are different so this isn't a complete guessing game for me. Hopefully others will have more insight.

1. Of Time and the City 6/10
2. Jahrgang '45 5/10

[Mario Gaborović]

1. Of Time and the City
2. Jahrgang '45

[joachimt]

1. Of Time and the City 7/10
2. Jahrgang '45 6/10

I'm not surprised you already forgotten about most of Jahrgang '45, Cocoa. It's okay, but I didn't find anything memorable as well.

[zhangalan]

1. Of time and the city
2. Born in 45

Lilarcor seems to have a crush on banned films from the same period.

[beavis]

1. Jahrgang '45 - 7,5
2. Of Time and the City - 6,5

[Mate_cosido]

1. Of Time and the City
2. Jahrgang '45

[72aicm]

1. Jahrgang '45
2. Of Time and the City

[Mario Gaborović]

Jahrgang '45: 2
Of Time and the City: 5

[jvv]

1. Of Time and the City - 7/10
2. Jahrgang '45 - 5/10

[Muellwind]

1. Jahrgang '45
2. Of Time and the City

[Lilarcor]

1. Jahrgang '45
2. Of Time and the City

[edward5]

1. Jahrgang '45. 7.5/10
2. Of Time and the City. 6.5/10

[joachimt]

Looks like Germany is getting back in the game.

Jahrgang '45: 5
Of Time and the City: 6

[Cinepolis]

1. Of Time and the City - 7/10
2. Jahrgang 45 - 6,5/10

[Gershwin]

1. Of Time and the City - 9/10
2. Jahrgang 45 - 7,5/10

The German entry was quite good, but it simply is no match for a high favourite.

[Smoover]

1. Of Time and the City - 7/10
2. Jahrgang 45 - 6,5/10

[burneyfan]

1. Of Time and the City (England)
2. Jahrgang 45 (Germany)

Thanks, Lilarcor and funky!

[Armoreska]

Of Time and the City 7
Jahrgang '45 6

[zuma]

01 - Jahrgang '45

02 - Of Time and the City

Pretty much a flip of a coin for me. Liked both the same.

[joachimt]

Jahrgang '45: 6
Of Time and the City: 11

[hurluberlu]

1. Jahrgang '45 - 7
2. Of Time and the City - 5

[Mochard]

1. Of Time and the City - 6/10
2. Jahrgang '45 - 5.5/10

[clemmetarey]

1. Of Time and the City (2008) 5/10
2. Jahrgang '45 (1965) 4/10

Not a very strong round for me.

[weirdboy]

1. Jahrgang '45 AKA Born in '45 (1966) - Jurgen Bottcher
2. Of Time and the City (2008) - Terence Davies

[klaus78]

1. Of Time and the City (England) 7/10
2. Jahrgang '45 (Germany) 5/10

[Angel Glez]

1. Jahrgang '45
2. Of Time and the City

[Nathan Treadway]

1. Jahrgang '45
2. Of Time and the City

[tommy_leazaq]

1. Jahrgang '45 - 7 . Nice film but why was it banned? Just because it showed few WWII references?
2. Of Time and the City - 6.75

[Mario Gaborović]

1. Jahrgang '45 - 7 . Nice film but why was it banned? Just because it showed few WWII references?
2. Of Time and the City - 6.75

In socialist states at the time, showing individuals who act in unpopular, hedonist ways - i.e. have no respect for authorities in general - was enough to niggle those people who decide. Once masses feel the taste of freedom, they're threat to powerholders. So they usually cut such expressions in start, although these films might seem benign today.

[Lilarcor]

1. Jahrgang '45 - 7 . Nice film but why was it banned? Just because it showed few WWII references?

East Germany were quite proactive in political oppression and anything that veered too far away from a safe "Socialist realism" aesthetic in any art form was usually nipped in the bud pretty early. But in the 1960s the censorship was unpredictable. Konrad Wolf was allowed to make Der geteilte Himmel (The Divided Heaven), a film that obviously references the new Berlin Wall in a questioning sense in 1964 (the Wall was not a taboo subject at the time as seen with a few pro-Wall films like ‘...und deine Liebe auch (1962), but risky), but Konrad Wolf was the shining star that everybody recognized and thus got more leeway. Other filmmakers took chances, perhaps somewhat inspired by what Konrad could do, but it led to 11 films being banned in what was called the 11th Plenum in 1965, including Jahrgang. Here it was stated by Erich Honecker, later head of the totalitarian state, that:

"[...] The matter is quite straightforward. If we are to increase productivity - and thereby raise our standard of living further - we cannot afford to propagate nihilistic, defeatist and immoral philosophies in literature, film, drama and television. Scepticism and a rising standard of living are ... mutually incompatible."

So the reason Jahrgang was banned is partly that it was swept up in the censorship wave during the 11th Plenum, started by the more directly political Das kaninchen bin Ich (The Rabbit is Me), partly because it didn't suit the Socialist realist aesthetic (it is more neorealist in its dirty sceneries and rubbles), partly because of its gloomy, indifferent mood and a strong feeling og stagnation for youth in the East.

Genreally speaking, films with WWII references were okay as long as the films had a clear anti-fascist message (for example Ich war neunzehn, Der Untertan).

e: this got too long and I see that Mario already responded

[tommy_leazaq]

Wow.. Thanks for the explanation guys!

[Gorro]

1. Of Time and the City
2. Jahrgang '45

[mjf314]

1. Jahrgang '45
2. Of Time and the City

[joachimt]

Two days left. I'm hoping for roughly 10 votes more.

Jahrgang '45: 12
Of Time and the City: 15

[metaller]

1. Of Time and the City
2. Jahrgang '45

The east German film was fine, but I just dug the deeply personal essay film more. A well done essay film is just my jam.

[tarr]

1. Jahrgang '45
2. Of Time and the City

Not the greatest round for me. Not a big fan of Terence Davies, I don't think I really liked any of his movies, and Of Time and the City is no exception. I was hoping that I would like Jahrgang '45 better, but the main character was such a creep, and it kinda ruin the whole experience for me. Still, it was slightly better than Of Time and the City.

[Renegade]

1. Jahrgang '45
2. Of Time and the City

[joachimt]

Getting closer...

Jahrgang '45: 14
Of Time and the City: 16