I like a lot of the buildings in Berlin. They are odd and surprising. Case in point is this strange number, which I caught on my way to breakfast. It was around the corner from the famous Zoo station on the west side of the city.
Back near the Potsdamer Platz, I took a shot while exiting the subway. The overhead windows were covered in frost. There was not a moment this entire weekend when I didn't feel cold.
My early morning movie was playing in the Sony Center, which was built next to Potsdamer Platz right after the wall came down. It's a grouping of buildings anchored by a soaring glass dome. The Cinemaxx movie theater is in the background.
It offers one of the nicer views I've ever seen from a movie theater lobby. I saw an interesting Japanese movie called Kazuko No Kuni, which translates to "Our Homeland." A bit of background is needed: in the 50's and 60's a lot of South Koreans living in Japan decided to emigrate to North Korea. At that time, it was no picnic being Korean in Japan, there was a lot of racism. South Korea at the time wasn't a very rich country either.
90,000 Koreans who were living in Japan, moved to North Korea, thinking it was going to offer a better life. The movie was made by a woman whose real life brothers were sent by their father to North Korea during this time. She created a movie based on her life - the story centered on her brother. He got a brain tumor and was allowed to leave Pyongyang to go to back to Tokyo for treatment. The family hadn't seen him for 25 years and he came with a "handler." The movie was about the distance that had grown between them and a critique of North Korea. Pops, I think you would like this one. When it was over the director spoke for a half hour. Prior to this film she made a few documentaries criticizing North Korea and was asked by their government to apologize. She said she made this film in response and has since been banned by the country and has't seen some of her N Korean family since.
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