Review of Deckname Dennis

"Deckname Dennis" is a German documentary movie and one of the two most known works by writer and director Thomas Frickel. It runs for 95 minutes roughly and includes the premise of an American reporter coming to Germany to interview Germans and find out what the country is about these days. That is all make-believe though. The American is in fact a German whose American accent was quite bad and almost all he does is interview Nazis trying to fool us into thinking that radical extremism is still a problem here in Germany. Or at least was 20 years ago because these 1.5 hours are from 1997 still. So yes we get it Nazis are bad, but how about a bit of objective journalism without fake identities where not only the radical right is shown, but also the radical left. The neutral approach is missing here completely and this film actually fits in nicely with the current political climate where radical lefties pulverize a whole district in Hamburg and press as well as the major parties blame the police while every potentially racist comment is turned into a major incident immediately. Back to this film: If you think Michael Moore is bad, then be worried about what Frickel does here. Also I wonder how many hours of interviews they cut out where they received normal and appropriate responses to their provocative questions until they finally had the answers and the biggest idiots on tape, those they wanted from the beginning. But it doesn't make the crew any better, they are just idiotic from an entirely different perspective. With how fake everything in here is, I also wouldn't be surprised if some interviewees are paid actors. And it certainly does not count as investigative journalism when you annoy a hard working construction worker with questions about who won the war, the Russians or Germans. No idea what the creators are thinking here. It's films like these that create the big drifts in our society. I highly recommend not to watch this film. It's a good thing it really isn't easy to find these days and I hope the filmmakers learned in the last two decades that you can care for your country's interests without being a Nazi. Germany first. Highly not recommended.