Merkel – Anatomy of a Crisis

(Die Getriebenen)

Powerful and  fast paced this film will hold your attention with superb acting and characterizations. A few times I had to remember that these were actors!

I had to watch this film as my first review. I knew that Merkel (no relation by the way) was an example to the more liberal European Union members in opening Germany’s borders to the many refugees, fleeing war torn Syria and Africa. Obviously as the film shows that there was staunch opposition from many less liberal European Union member countries, including some members in her own party in the wake of the right-wing conservative politics that has surfaced recently.

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While this film is extremely fast paced and fast reading, the acting is superb and remarkably close to the characterizations of the people who were in power during that period and those that are still in charge today. It would be worthwhile reading up on Merkel ‘s handling of the crisis, her strategies and stoicism to weather the crisis, especially if you do not have a strong command of German and the amount of reading required..

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  Perhaps the lessons learnt from the sixties and seventies during the Turkish immigration wave to Germany may have played some historical significance in Merkel’s decisions when handling the crisis in 2015. There are over 3.5 million immigrants of Turkish descent in Germany today and Germany has had to learn, how to accept that Turkish immigration was not just a temporary migration, as was first thought, and embrace the Turks different cultural and religious backgrounds and their contribution to Germany. Immigrants are humans who want a better life and this is the reality!