Latest from the Da-Da-R

(Letztes aus der DaDaeR)

Germany, 1990, 86 min, color
In German; English subtitles
Credits:
Director
Script
Scenario
Dramaturg
Editor
Camera
Set Design
Costume Design
Music (Score)
Music (Performance)
Cast
Producer

Synopsis

In a loose set of cabaret pieces, Steffen Mensching and Hans-Eckardt Wenzel—highly acclaimed East German poets, songwriters and clowns—satirize East German life in its final days and the arrival of new times after the fall of the Berlin Wall. “Da-Da-R” is a wordplay on the irreverent Dada art movement of the 1920s and the German acronym for East Germany—the DDR.

 

The clowns are allowed to leave prison to sing for people outside. As they perform their pieces, however, the country sinks into rebellion, the prison is attacked and looted, and the people chase the clowns away.

 

Latest from the Da-Da-R was the first film made by the Da-Da-eR artistic production group, which had fought for independence within the structures of the state-owned DEFA film studio for years.

 

Part of the series WENDE FLICKS: Last Films from East Germany.

Awards

2009 Official Selection, Leeds International Film Festival

Press comments

“Brecht plus Goethe, times Weill, raised to the power of Eisler, divided by Valentin, equals Wenzel and Mensching.”
Der Tagesspiegel

 

“An astonishing, stylistically-sure farewell to the GDR – a diagnosis of mood that goes below the surface.”
Die Zeit

 

“A musical cabaret revue.”
Abendzeitung München

 

“Meh and Weh bring to life the protest culture of the 1980s, which wanted something different, not to be incorporated into a single Germany.”
— Deutsches Historisches Museum

 

“An avant-garde take on unification from an East German perspective.”
— Jennifer Ruth Hosek, Queen's University

Availability

Buy the DVDStream
DVD Bonus Features:
  • Biographies & Filmographies
  • Introductory Essay by Reinhild Steingröver
  • Written Interview with Jörg Foth
  • “Wenzel, Mensching and the Latest from the Da-Da-R,” by David Robb
  • Original Trailers and Posters
  • Tuba wa duo (GDR, 1989, Dir: Jörg Foth, 11 min.)
  • WENDE FLICKS Series Trailer
  • About The Wende Museum

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