User Reviews

This East German comedy was made about 10 years before the country was reunified, and Socialist Germany ceased to exist. From this perspective, I found it much more interesting in its depicting of daily life in the GDR (hiring construction workers, obtaining building material, bureaucracy, car breakdown, bank credit, divorce proceedings, nude bathing, alcohol) than laugh-out-loud comical.

The story: An entertainer (strong: Rolf Herricht in his last film role) wants to have a vacation home built, in a small town on the Baltic Sea. (He is forced to do so by local authorities, otherwise he'd lose the right to the land.) Against all odds presented by the surrounding society, he jeopardizes his money, car, job, marriage...

The film Der Baulöwe (The Build Lion) is perhaps not an impressive work of art, but it is an interesting curiosity. It tells the story about a good head of the family, who gets the idea to build his own house. He swears to his family that it will become beautiful and cheap. Unfortunately the man lacks building experience, and in accordance with the Murphy principle anything that might go wrong actually does. It takes ages to get permits from the official authorities. The red tape is an eternal drain of energy. The hired handymen prove to be dabblers and impostors. The structure, that is finally erected by the family man himself, with his own hands, collapses due to a minor breeze. Soon the project dominates and ruins his life, the fun is gone and only hurt pride makes him persevere. But enough is enough, eventually a ready to hand house is bought on the market from a house construction agency. The project ends as a laughable experience. The claim of curiosity and originality in this film stems from its many layers. On the surface, it is a slapstick-like comedy, not really funny, since German humor is in general popular and lacks the Anglo-Saxon subtlety. Humor requires the ability to moderate. On a psychological level there is the portrayal of personal initiative, which is turned into a caricature. Free enterprise is depicted as rotten and individuals are powerless against the red tape. On the social level there is the advocation of cooperation and division of labor, leading to professionalism and accomplishments that are outside the reach of individuals. You prosper as a part of the community. In conclusion, I can definitely not praise this film. Nevertheless, the enjoyment of mishaps in combination with personal identification and painful recognition (this is the stuff that my nightmares are made of) imprints the events in your memory and makes it an unforgettable film.