Johann Strauss Jr.: Waltzes and Polkas. "The Thunder and Lightning" Polka, with its flashing cymbals and booming bass drum, has always been a favorite in our household. "The Blue Danube" Waltz isn't bad either and "The Radetzky March" (by Johann Sr.) is hard to beat for clap-along fun. Suggested recording: Again, there are many recordings of these works available, but you can't be without the DVD of Carlos Kleiber conducting the Vienna Philharmonic on New Year's Day 1992 on Philips.
The film talks about the rise and fall of the two most influential protagonists in GDR-politics. In succession, over long stretches even together, Ulbricht and Honecker determined the course of the GDR, of course without ever getting out of being a satellite state to the big brother in Moscow. The film looks for the caesura and crucial points in the power game between Ulbricht and Honecker.
Made with an eye to the autumn of 1980 when the German parliamentary elections took place, The Candidate examines Germany’s history past and present and Franz Josef Strauß, the man who, as the CDU/CSU candidate, aspires to be elected to the most important political office in the land.
