Spielberg's Lincoln

[Eva Elisabeth]

Dear Liz Rosenthal, you took the words right out of my mouth:"I'd entered a whole new world". When reflecting allthis once mord with regard to your post, the following became very clear to me: the movie reminded me of my past. The scenes of exaltation after the Amendmend passed exactly reminded me of Nov.5,1989 (I,was 15 then) when the Berlin Wall broke down and the people in eastern Germany were allowed to leave their country, to be free. And, too, this event was succeeded by reunification -and a free Europe. (In many ways I feel rather European than German.) And, too, this event was preceded by (another kind of) war, the Cold War, with its frightening and constant threat of a possible nuclear war, and Nov.5 brought release.
Referring to the "experiment with democracy"-I think for many people here America is an allegory of democracy and freedom and the possibility of the "pursuit of happyness" (by the way, for my A-levels at school I indeed had to learn this DoI-passage by heart!). Finally, just 3 weeks ago I experienced the following: We went to Tunesia for vacation. One day when I was sitting at the hotel beach, reading D. Donald's Lincoln biography, one of the Tunesian waiters came along, pointed at the book cover and asked.:"Who is this?""A famous former American president" I replied. Then the man said exactly this:"America is great. I don't want to live there because I love Tunesia. But I want the same rights and the same democracy for my country."