Bombs Over Berlin

Tonight I went to Potsdamer Platz to go to the movies. I have four free tickets provided by Deutsche Bank because I brought a new customer to them and figured, since I have no money, now would be a good time to use them. Marion told me that the cinema I had tickets for (Cinemaxx) wasn't the English-language one but would only have dubbed movies. I told her she was wrong and we took the S-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz to see who was right.

We were walking out of the S-Bahn station and were surprised by the sounds of fireworks bursting in the air. Today was the kickoff of the Berlin Winter World (Winterwelt-Berlin) where there's a gigantic snow slide (with real snow!) in the middle of Potsdamer Platz. We stood for a few minutes to watch the fireworks and contemplate on the large crowd of Germans gathered in what was No-Man's Land just 18 years ago. We were standing maybe 5 meters from a standing section of the Wall. Then there was the booming echoes of the fireworks exploding overhead. So much history there, eh?

After the bombs stopped exploding (okay, sorry, last time), we went to the Cinemaxx... where everything was dubbed. Which brings me to a major issue I have with Germany/Germans. Why the hell do they dub every movie/television program broadcast in this country!? The many cultural/linguistic nuances and references in the original productions are, quite simply, lost in translation. It's a pain to see The Simpsons in German because all the voices are wrong and some of the subtle humor is lost. Same thing with movies--the director's vision is lost when the actors he/she chose lose their voices and pick up a random German's voice.

So, since I strongly disapprove of dubbed films (even into English for showing in the States), we didn't watch any movie at Cinemaxx... and since I can't spend 7€ on a movie at the "OV" (Original Version) movie theater, we just took a bus back to the apartments. At least the fireworks were cool.