The Evil Old Song

The chapter analyzes how the film interweaves Heinrich Heine’s poem The Evil Old Songs with an eclectic musical repertoire—ranging from German military songs, avant-garde industrial music, and popular Turkish and German film scores—to expand what initially may appear to be a specifically German memoryscape to a transnational, European level. While the film evokes collective memories of war and totalitarianism, Akin’s vision is not limited to this past-oriented perspective: it ultimately makes a plea for overcoming the nationalist, racist, and xenophobic attitudes that led to the catastrophes of the twentieth century in order to foster a transnational, peaceful European community.