Our Mothers, Our Fathers.
Our Mothers, Our Fathers is a mini-series in Germany that The New York Times asserts is trying to “airbrush” a particular time in history, that lovely era when the Nazis were in full bloom. When you think about Nazi regalia, thigh-high leather boots, jodhpurs and cropped jackets adorned with heavy metal pins and colorful emblems that today we would coo if that same ensemble came waltzing down a fashion runway in Paris as opposed to storming into your home. No one was safe back then in Europe, unless of course you were blond and organized. What we now call OCD back then manifested in an desperate obsession to see your papers.
Lord knows forgiveness is key and surely it is important to salvage the soul, but the truth will always set you free. Far be it from me to go into denial about my past shortcomings, but for this documentary to try to clear away the wreckage of Germany’s past and present the people who lived during that time as “regular folks like you and me”, well, wait just a minute. Imagine if Ken Burns decided to do a docu-series on American history leading up to the Civil War where he whitewashes (using the term loosely) the white man’s role in slavery. Yes, imagine that. To insinuate that not all white people kept and beat slaves, so don’t be a hater. Just hate those rich, white people with plantations. Maybe we should change the name of this year’s Best Film at the Oscars to “Actually It Was More Like Six Years A Slave”…tagline…”But We Provided Room and Board!” The whole thing is just wrong. I guess I should see this series called Generation War before I go too far off the rails.
