A journey back in time to the early 1960s – from an economic miracle to the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis
Markus actually has it pretty good. His family was on the receiving end of the West German economic miracle. They were able to indulge again – they even purchased a television – and yet Markus is still suffering the effects of a tyrannical grandmother, his father’s constant and repetitive war stories, the authoritarian teachers at his school, and above all else, his unrequited feelings. When the Tinotti family arrives, his life finally shifts into gear. The Italian family moves in next door and opens an ice cream parlour. But Markus is especially taken with Clarissa. As the wall is being erected in Berlin and Markus’ grandmother is having a fence installed in her garden to keep out the spaghetti eaters, he spends his time trying to figure out ways to get closer to her.
With a passion for detail, great narrative force and plenty of humour, Klaus Modick captures the atmosphere of a decisive phase of German history. The situation is improving in the West, while the East is cutting itself off from the world – and suddenly that very world stands at the edge of an atomic abyss. In the middle of it all is Markus, who wants nothing more than to experience his first kiss, and who captures all of life’s rare moments with his camera.
