Remembering 2006
Distributed by First Run/Icarus Films, 32 Court St., 21st Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201; 800-876-1710
Produced by T&C Film
Directed by Bruno Moll
VHS, color, 84 min.
Sr. High - Adult
Aging, Psychology, Human Behavior
Date Entered: 10/02/2007
Reviewed by Gerald Notaro, University Librarian, Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, University of South Florida, St. PetersburgGerman documentary filmmaker Bruno Moll’s Remembering (Erinern) profiles a handful of individuals remembering and retelling their life experiences. Like documentarian Miklós Gimes’ film about his mother, Lucy (Mutter) the film may be too personal for viewers to be engaged in the film. Not many of today’s filmgoers are going to be grabbed by a film opening with quotes from Nietzsche, no matter how appropriate. The narratives of a forensic anthropologist, a formerly imprisoned Kurd woman, a Polish man revisiting his past, a dying man and his menagerie, a music therapist, and a biographer hold limited appeal. They talk about those things that trigger memory: music, photographs, drawings, collectables, postcards, writings, etc. As each describes the past throughout the film, the purpose and what is being revealed beyond the personal details remain unclear. There is some discussion as why certain memories disappear, and inherent joy is apparent in the telling, even when describing pain, sadness, and guilt. Of particular interest is the anthropologist’s pursuit of determining identity and life stories from excavated skulls. The mystery and speculation will prove far more memorable to viewers than wondering what will become of collected trinkets. As a Polish couple from the Ghetto travel back with their grandsons, the oldest films all the events with a digital camera. Ironically, the resulting files stored on a computer server and accessed by the Internet will serve as their future memory. Unfortunately, their tour of a concentration camp’s showers and gas chambers seem obligatory for the sake of impact. In addition, the final scene of waves washing sand along a shore is more than cliché.