by Clarke Fountain
synopsis
The "Trabi" in this comedy's title is a Trabant 601 automobile, a noisy, smelly, two-cylinder farrago of a proper vehicle -- about the only motorized transportation available to residents of the "Socialist Utopia" of East Germany. Now that the wall has fallen and the two Germanys have begun to become unified, a moderately poor Leipzig family has chosen to drive to Italy in their little car on vacation. The mishaps that befall them will be appreciated by anyone familiar with the funny little car, and the actors make the most of it in this German answer to Chevy Chase's "Vacation" films.
