Posts about Bjarne Mädel (RSS, JSON)

10AM — After their father’s death, two estranged brothers reconnect whilst getting drunk in their childhood home. In between old memorabilia, they come across a plan they forged as teenagers: To travel across the country on their mopeds from the Black Forest in the south to the Baltic Sea in the north. Still intoxicated, they put the plan into action.

For many Germans growing up in the province, their moped is the segway to teenage independence. And so is planning a ridiculously long trip on a two-wheel vehicle that can’t go faster than 25 kilometres per hour. 25km/h depicts this and other nuggets of German life beautifully. Scores of beautiful nature, a wine fest, eating Sauerbraten, a feast at a Greek restaurant that every 17-year-old dreams of before they venture out and taste actually good food, and the petty-minded world of permanent camping—it’s all so German, it’s no surprise why so many Germans have ambivalent feelings about the country. And yet, it’s all lovingly staged in 25km/h that it left me thinking whether I should book a flight home to spend the summer there.