THAT TRIP WE TOOK WITH DAD

THAT TRIP WE TOOK WITH DAD takes us back in time, on a rock ‘n’ roll road trip through the still-porous Iron Curtain. German-Romanian brothers Mihai and Emil load their ailing father into their car in Romania under false pretenses and head for the German Democratic Republic. Mihai hopes a surgical procedure in Dresden might restore his dad’s health—and maybe some family equilibrium. But it’s 1968, so there’s little equilibrium anywhere in Eastern Europe. As they motor through the GDR, there’s a wee little uprising in Prague. And amidst the political chaos, the trio is held in a tourist detention center. Being German speakers, they’re allowed to travel west to the Federal Republic, where they crash in the Munich commune of Mihai’s new girlfriend. Surrounded by housemates holding forth on the glories of Socialism, the Romanians are aghast. Can they be free in this crazy place, or should they return home to Romania? THAT TRIP WE TOOK WITH DAD is a hugely enjoyable film whose believable characters and wonderful period look help us appreciate the tragicomedy of the East-West conflict. (In German and Romanian with subtitles) —B.B.