Von Wegen (2009)

Run Time - 90 min.  |   Countries - Germany  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Mark Deming

One of the pioneering groups of the European Industrial Music scene, Einstürzende Neubauten are a German ensemble whose purposefully abrasive sound combines noisy guitars and electronics with thundering percussion which sometimes takes the form of scrap metal being pummeled into submission on stage (or in the studio). After making their debut in 1980, Einstürzende Neubauten had taken their harsh and challenging music all over the world by 1989, but they had yet to visit one place very close to their home in Berlin. While the Berlin Wall still divided Germany, Einstürzende Neubauten were invited to perform in East Berlin in the GDR for the first time that year, and filmmaker Uli M Schueppel joined the band as they took their music to a place that was geographically just a short drive from their rehearsal space, but psychologically thousands of miles from what they knew and expected. Von Wegen (aka Off Ways) is a documentary that offers a look at Einstürzende Neubauten's historic visit to the GDR and the recollections of the key figures involved twenty years later. Von Wegen was an official selection at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival.