Das Lied in mir is a psychological drama which premiered in 2010.
The main character is a woman (Maria) who is 30 years old in 2009. Apart from a brief introduction set in Berlin – the capital of Germany – the story takes place in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.
While the story is set in the present, the main focus is on something that happened in the past.
Here is some basic information about this drama:
** English title: The Day I Was Not Born
** Director: Florian Cossen
** Writers: Florian Cossen & Elena von Saucken
** Music: Matthias Klein
** Language: German (occasionally Spanish or English)
** Subtitles: German
** Released on DVD in 2011
** Run time: 89 minutes
The cast includes the following:
** Jessica Schwarz as Maria Falkenmayer
** Michael Gwisdek as Anton Falkenmayer
** Rafael Ferro as Alejandro
** Beatriz Spelzini as Estela
** Carlos Portaluppi as Jorge
As stated above, this is a psychological drama, a fictional story placed in a contemporary context.
In this case, the context is Berlin and Buenos Aires in the present.
While the story is set in the present (2009), the focus is on something that happened in the past, during the time when Argentina was ruled by a military junta (1976-1983).
This dark chapter of Argentinian history is known as the Dirty War.
I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. I am not going to say much about what happens in this drama. I will only tell you how the story begins:
Maria, who is 30 years old, lives in Berlin. She is a competition swimmer. When the story begins, she is going to Santiago di Chile to take part in a swimming competition there. Anton (her father) brings her to the airport.
Since there is no direct flight from Berlin to Santiago, she must first fly to Buenos Aires in Argentina and from there she must board another plane to Santiago.
While she is in the transit hall in Buenos Aires, waiting for her flight to Santiago, something happens which triggers a deep and fundamental change in her life:
When a baby starts to cry, the mother starts to sing a lullaby in Spanish. Hearing this song, Maria realizes that she knows not only the song but also the words.
This is very strange, because she does not speak any Spanish, and - as far as she knows - she has never been to Latin America before. But this song is inside her head!
Hence the German title of the drama:
Das Lied in mir
How can this be?
Stunned by this experience, Maria decides to break off her journey to Santiago and to stay in Buenos Aires for a while. There is something about this place that she has to explore.
She checks into a hotel and calls Anton in Germany to tell him about her change of plan. Since he does not answer the phone, she just leaves a message for him. She tells him about the Spanish lullaby that she had recognized.
Two days later, there is a knock on her door: Anton is there. He has travelled all the way to Argentina. He knows why Maria could recognize the Spanish lullaby. And he needs to talk to her. He has to tell her something he had hoped he would never have to tell her:
Anton and his wife (who died when Maria was 16) are not Maria’s biological parents. Maria was born in Argentina in 1979, when this country was ruled by the military junta.
At that time, Anton and his wife were living in Argentina. They knew Maria and her parents through a kindergarten. Anton worked for an international company in Buenos Aires. This is why he can speak Spanish.
One day in 1982, Maria’s parents were picked up by soldiers. They disappeared. Anton and his wife decided to adopt Maria (who was only three years old) and to take her with them when they returned to Germany.
Anton is in a dilemma: on one hand, he wants to tell Maria what happened. On the other hand, he is afraid that he is going to lose her when he tells her the truth about the past.
Maria is stunned by this revelation:
(1) She was born in Argentina!
(2) She was adopted!
(3) And she never knew anything about it!
Once the first shock is over, Maria acts quickly. She wants to find out if her parents are still alive or if members of her family are still alive.
Anton helps her by making a few phone calls, but even though he is helping, he is strangely reluctant.
Miraculously, they are able to locate some members of her family who live in Buenos Aires. Maria wants to meet them. And they want to meet her.
The first meeting is filled with joy, even though communication is limited: Maria cannot speak Spanish and her relatives cannot speak English, let alone German.
Maria has found a family she never knew she had and the Argentinian relatives have found a long-lost member of their family.
Now, once the immediate joy of being re-united is over, the serious questions begin:
How and why was Maria adopted by a German couple?
How and why did this happen?
Maria as well as her new-found family want to know the truth. Anton has the answers, but he hesitates to reveal the whole story.
What will Maria do, once she knows the whole truth about what happened in the past? Who is she? Where does she belong?
What about Anton? Maria thought he was her loving father, but now she has to see him in a different light. What does it all mean?
Many questions must be answered.
But it is not easy to find the right answer.
The seven years of
military rule - the Dirty War - are in the past. Today Argentina is a
democracy. But the Dirty War is still a difficult topic today.
No matter which side you were on. Some of the perpetrators are still alive. While many victims are dead, their families still remember what happened. Some of the victims survived. They still remember what happened,
In this drama, we see how Maria all of a sudden becomes a part of this difficult past; how she becomes a part of this difficult history. We see how she tries to cope with this new and unexpected situation.
This is how the story begins, and this is where my presentation ends.
If you want to know what happens to Maria, her old family in Germany (Anton), and her new-found family in Argentina, you will have to watch the drama all the way to the end.
What do reviewers say about it?
Here are some results:
62 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
68 percent = IMDb
On Amazon Germany there are at the moment 27 ratings of this product, 20 with reviews.
The average rating is 3.7 stars which corresponds to a rating of 74 percent.
If you ask me, all these ratings are too low.
Why?
I have four reasons:
# 1. The script is well-written
# 2. The actors play their roles well
# 3. The story is captivating, dramatic, and emotional
# 4. While the story fictional, the topic is important and the story is placed in a context that seems very realistic
The general history and the general question of human rights violations during the Dirty War suddenly becomes very personal:
Maria’s parents were abducted and after a while they were probably killed by soldiers, while Maria herself ended up in Germany, because she was adopted by a German couple, who happened to be living in Argentina at the time.
I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).
PS # 1. The English title The Day I Was Not Born is a reference to the fact that Anton and his wife had to change Maria’s birthday on the official documents when they wanted to leave Argentina take her with them when they returned to Germany.
PS # 2. The Official Story is the English title of an Argentinian drama from 1985 about an upper middle-class couple who live in Buenos Aires with an illegally adopted child.
The mother comes to realize that her adopted daughter may be the child of a person who was “disappeared” during the Dirty War when the military junta ruled the country.
This drama which premiered in 1985 was released on DVD in 2005.
REFERENCES
# 1. Books
God’s Assassins:
State terrorism in Argentina in the 1970s
By Patricia Marchak with William Marchak
(1999)
Guerrillas and Generals:
The Dirty War in Argentina
by Paul H. Lewis
(2002)
Dirty Secrets, Dirty War: Buenos Aires, Argentina 1976-1983 – The Exile of Robert J. Cox
By David Cox
(2008)
Argentina’s Missing Bones:
Revisiting the History of the Dirty War
By James P. Brennan
(2018)
Argentina Betrayed:
Memory, Mourning, and Accountability
By Antonius C. G. M. Robben
(2018)
# 2. Film and video
Messenger on a White Horse
This is a documentary film which premiered in 2017
The topic is life and career of the British journalist Robert J. Cox in Argentina
Argentina, 1985
This is a historical drama which premiered in 2022
The topic is the trial of the nine leaders of the military junta who were prosecuted in 1985
*****
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