Review: Central Airport THF

Ibrahim Al Hussein (left) and Qutaiba Nafer (right) are refugees in Berlin

Thursday was World Refugee Day and I should have posted this review of a documentary I saw on the plane back to Hong Kong.

It's called Central Airport THF (Zentralflughafen THF in German) and it was released last year. When refugees first arrive in Berlin, they are processed and live at Tempelhof Airport, and the documentary follows an 18-year-old Syrian teen Ibrahim Al Hussein and aspiring doctor Qutaiba Nafer from Iraq.



The airport was originally commissioned by Adolf Hitler and opened in 1923 and it was supposed to be the world's biggest airport. But it wasn't quite big enough and closed in 2008. However since 2015 it is a temporary home to thousands of refugees who want to have a new life in Germany.

The film follows them through most of the year, with Ibrahim narrating most of the time. We follow him through his daily rituals, eating in the canteen that he says serves terrible food, learning German, running outside, and smoking. Lots of smoking.

The refugees live in cubicles with open ceilings in a hangar

Meanwhile Qutaiba volunteers his services as a translator to help medical staff process the refugees in terms of their healthcare needs. He is fluent in English and we see him helping not only translate but empathizing with the refugees, and even acting as a psychologist to two boys, asking them to draw out their memories of their homelands.

The pacing is slow -- but it's a deliberate move by filmmaker Karim Ainouz to show how life in the hangars can be, that the wait for refugees to be processed can take a long time especially when there isn't much for you to do.

Everyone lives in a small space with an open ceiling that has very basic beds and no "door", except for a sheet. A couple with children complains about this, but they are told the sheet is fireproof for their safety. They have no choice but to get used to this arrangement.

Ibrahim talks about whatever memories he has left of his home in northern Syria, his family. He wants to try to remember them as much as he can, and recalls his most terrifying night when he got onto a boat and didn't know if he would still be alive the next day.

They try to find ways to pass the time everyday

This contrasts with the predictable, safe, relatively clean and monotonous life he lives in the hangar, though he has a few friends (smokers) who he hangs out with. At Christmas, there's a party complete with several Santa Clauses and presents for the children, but Ibrahim scoffs the party is hardly festive and that it's for the kids, not for people his age.

On New Year's Eve, fireworks are set off, though for Ibrahim and probably many of the refugees, the sounds remind them of bombs and shooting...

What's also bizarre is that near the hangars for the refugees are large spaces for Berliners to ride Segways, bicycles or even do beekeeping. At night security men in a car spot several foxes in the area who aren't scared of humans.

Director Karim Ainouz wanted to humanize the refugee plight

Nevertheless, viewers take a liking to Ibrahim and want to root for him. He is a thoughtful teen, and anxious to get on with his life. It's hard to imagine what it's like to be by himself day after day, being far from his family and Syria, and trying to integrate into this new country, but Central Airport THF gives a good idea.

Central Airport THF (2018)
Directed by Karim Ainouz
1hr 40 mins

Berlin's Power Centre

The Brandenburg Gate symbolizes peace and unity in Germany and Europe

After our museum hopping, we headed to the Brandenburg Gate, the iconic symbol of Germany as well as of unity and peace. On the subway, the carriage windows are covered in the Brandenburg Gate logo. To see it in person is impressive.

The 18th century neoclassical monument was built on the orders of Prussian King Frederick William II. It is built on the site of the former city gate, located on the western part of Berlin's city centre. When King Frederick William II commissioned the gate, it was meant to represent peace.

Designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, the gate features 12 Doric columns that form five passageways. At the top of the gate is a quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses that were sculpted by Johann Gottfried Schadow.

A detail of the quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses

The design of the gate was inspired by Propylaea, the gateway to the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

When the Nazis ascended power, they appropriated the gate as a party symbol. During World War II the gate was damaged by bullets and nearby explosions. One of the horse's heads survived the war and is kept in a museum.

After Germany surrendered at the end of the war, both governments of West Berlin and East Berlin restored the gate as best they could. However, when the Berlin Wall was built dividing the city, that prevented access to the gate from 1961 until 1989, when the wall finally fell.

As a result of the wall being torn down, the gate again represented freedom and the desire to unite Berlin.

A short walking distance from the Brandenburg Gate is the Bundestag, or the German parliament. The building itself is called Reichstag. It's an impressive, large building that was enhanced with a glass dome designed by Sir Norman Foster that visitors can climb up to. However, you need to book tickets in advance so we couldn't get in. Something to keep in mind for next time...

The Reichstag, the building that housed the Bundestag

The building was opened in 1894, and it was mysteriously set on fire in 1933 -- probably by the Nazis -- who used the incident to suspend people's rights, arrest communists, and increase police action in the country.

By taking advantage of people's fears, Adolf Hitler was able to rise to power, as he portrayed himself as anti-communist.

The Reichstag was not fully repaired after the fire, and then it was further damaged by air raids. When the Cold War began, the building was basically left unused because the Berlin Wall was built right next to it, and the seat of government of West Germany moved to Bonn in 1949.

From 1961 to 1964, architect Paul Baumgarten reconstructed the building, stripping it back to its former glory.

When Germany was finally reunited in 1990, the ceremony was held at the Reichstag building, but it wasn't until two years later that Foster won the architectural contest to reconstruct the building, that was finally completed in 1999. The large dome gives visitors a 360 view of the city.

The German Chancellery that has some funny nicknames

Adjacent to the Reichstag is the German Chancellery where Chancellor Angela Merkel lives and works. Our taxi driver called it "Merkel House". The contemporary building that was opened in 2001 is the largest government headquarters building in the world at 12,000 square metres, which is 10 times the size of the White House.

Because of its massive size, the German Chancellery has some interesting nicknames. Because of its round shaped windows and cubic form, it's been called bundeswaschmaschine or "federal laundry machine" and elefantenklo or "elephant loo".

Monkey Business with Curious George

Well-researched and beautifully executed documentary mixed with animation

Another wonderful documentary that you can tell the filmmaker has poured their heart and soul is Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators that was released in June last year.

For the past 75 years, millions have loved reading Curious George books as children, but not many know about the couple who created the lovable simian character.

Margaret and Hans Rey created Curious George

Filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki gives a pretty comprehensive presentation of Hans and Margaret Rey not only through interviews with their literary executor, Lay Lee Ong, some academics, and even the Rey's neighbours in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, who back in the 1950s were young children that Hans would play with and entertain.

These interviews are interlaced with historical footage and -- even better -- animation of Hans and Margaret that are dropped into the black and white film to illustrate they were there.

They were both German Jews and Hans was originally dating Margaret's older sister when they met -- Margaret was only around nine years old. But they later kept in touch and while he went to Brazil to work with his entrepreneurial brother-in-law, Margaret later paid a visit to see him and decided they should get married and start an advertising firm.

Hans was always an artist, and even his studying medicine could not keep him from doodling. Margaret saw his talent and incorporated his cartoons with her copywriting and photographs for ads.

They left Paris by bicycle with only some precious items

They tied the knot in 1935 and moved to France, but this was just as Adolf Hitler was making his plans to take over the continent. By using cartoons of Hans and Margaret, Yamazaki is able to illustrate how the Reys were able to escape the Nazis in June 1940.

Hans built two bicycles out of spare parts and together they rode hundreds of kilometres south of Paris, to get to a town where they sold their bicycles to catch a train to get to the southwest coat to take a ship to Lisbon.

While they were in Paris, they had started writing a book about Fifi the monkey who later became George. They took this manuscript with them, and just before they escaped the French capital, they received an advance for the book that helped fund their journey.

The couple in their later years in the United States

They managed to get on a ship to the United States and thanks to one of Margaret's sisters who lived in Long Island received a letter from an editor who was familiar with the monkey book and gave them an advance for more Curious George books.

There are seven in total and each of them are a collaboration between the husband and wife.

It's so interesting they would spend their summers in Waterville Valley in the 1950s, at the time when anti-Semitism was very popular in the United States. The children neighbours, now in their 70s, remember Margaret as being scary, while Hans was very nice.

So while much is discussed about the Reys and how Curious George came about, there isn't much information about the Man in the Yellow Hat. Guess he will continue to remain a mystery.

Nevertheless the animation really makes Monkey Business an endearing film, inserting the couple into the story to "reenact" scenes in their lives and definitely adding a humorous touch.

Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators

Directed: Ema Ryan Yamazaki

1 hour and 21 minutes

Hong Kong Video Plea goes Viral

Agnes Chow in a screen grab from the video posted on her Facebook page

A month ago, Agnes Chow Ting sent out a video plea on Facebook. Called "An urgent cry from Hong Kong" the video shows her reading out a letter in English, talking about the disappearance of the five booksellers, and how it was important to find out what happened to them.

That video went viral and was seen by over 1 million times and shared 13,000 times.
"I was quite surprised [when the video went viral]. It shows that people all over the world care about what is happening in Hong Kong -- they are shocked by it. I hope people will lean about the political situation and keep their eye on Hong Kong. I am really happy that everyone is showing their support," the Baptist University student and core member of Scholarism said.

"This is the first time that we are aware of Hong Kong people being taken to the mainland because of political feelings about Chinese President Xi Jinping."

Over a week ago Gui Minhai made a strange confession on state television, admitting to killing a young woman in a drunk driving accident in Zhejiang province in 2003, while Lee Po's wife was able to see her husband over a week ago in an undisclosed location on the mainland.

The other three associates have not been heard from since they disappeared.

Chow says more protests need to be organized to further pressure the Chinese government to reveal what has happened to the five people.

"I hope people will start to care more about the booksellers. This case shows we do not have the kind of freedoms we should," she said.

In her video, Chow talks about how Hong Kong people believed that with "one country, two systems", their rights and freedoms would be upheld.

"In the past, we were safe because we lived in Hong Kong instead of mainland China. However, the circumstances have changed with the abduction which was suspected to be done by the police in China towards this bookseller who kept being low profile before."

As a result, in the video, Chow says she fears for her safety too.

"I hope everyone in the world who believes in universal values of freedom and human rights could stand up and speak for this incident to stop the political suppression," she says.

"Even I am afraid of my personal safety after this incident. I still believe we should continuously fight for freedom from fear because it is an important core value that we should uphold."

In the end Chow quotes from German pastor Martin Niemöller, who became an outspoken critic of Adolf Hitler and voiced his regret for not doing enough for the victims of Nazi rule.

First they came for the activists, and I did not speak out. Because I was not an activist.

Then they came for the journalists and I did not speak out. Because I was not a journalist.

Then they came for the bookseller, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a bookseller.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.