The fake news reports would have ended up on Youtube 20 years hence...
- I'm pretty sure some of them are pure comedy gold, too good *not* to put up, and there are actual real-life parodies of Aktuelle Kamera on the real-life Youtube. Or at least Denis could put them up as an example of his early film-making endeavours.
- And he would probably have found a job in the movie industry.
The cabbie isn't Sigmund Jähn.
- But he eventually pretends he is just to humour his charge.
Or, the cabbie really is Sigmund Jähn.
The film takes place in a slightly divergent alternate universe where Jähn happened to be down on his luck temporarily after communism fell.- Sigmund Jähn denies this in-universe due to the shame that he would feel to have to take such a lowly job.
The porn video clip represents capitalist decadence.
- The clip portrays a woman with blatantly '80s Hair (NSFW follows) pouring whipped cream on ridiculously enlarged naked breasts, which could work as one of the film's many visual gags highlighting the seeming absurdity of first encountering captialism when you're not used to it. (See also the transformed grocery store with someone walking around with a chicken suit, Coca-Cola trucks dwarfing the changing of the guard, etc.)
Possibly wishful thinking given this troper isn't really sure he can justify watching the movie otherwise due to that bit, but anyway...
- There is definitely a Rule of Symbolism going on there with regards to how different East and West is. The porno, the Coca Cola trucks and the obnoxious banker definitely highlight the decadent sides of the West but the film also goes into detail about how much of a police state the East was and the prevalence of fear from the Stasi. To me it always struck me a Grey-and-Grey Morality.
Denis wears a The Matrix-style T-shirt because he came up with the idea for The Matrix; a few years after the events of this film, the Wachowskis will rip off Denis
- At some point, The Wachowskis meet Denis, and he tells him his idea for Planet of the Forgotten; the Wachowskis steal the idea, rename it The Matrix and make the titular film. Denis' ideas only provide enough material for the first film, however, so the sequels are made without Denis' input, which is why they're so much worse.
- Alternately, Denis works with the Wachowskis for the first film before pursuing other opportunities.
Or he's doing it because the film takes place in the Matrix.
- And only a few such as Denis know the secret. The T-shirt is an in-joke.
- Perhaps the Machines know that the bit that simulates East Germany is leading to the humans kicking off so they have to replace it with a simulated transition to "democracy".
- Given that the Machines have scrapped and rebooted earlier versions of the Matrix in the past, it's possible that in this iteration they decided to scrap and reboot the Soviet Bloc section of the Matrix rather than the entire Matrix.
- Perhaps the Machines know that the bit that simulates East Germany is leading to the humans kicking off so they have to replace it with a simulated transition to "democracy".
The reason Alex goes to such lengths isn't just to protect his mother from future shock.
- It might also be to protect her from having to relive the trauma that led up to her having a heart attack in the first place, which was part of the events that led to the changes. It's possible that he also has survivors guilt or something like it, given he was unable to help her and managed to escape with nothing more than a beating and arrest. The effort is a deeply personal thing for him but he isn't quite able to explain it to the rest of his family. (It might even be, possibly that the bit where it kind of becomes recreating the ideal East Germany he wanted to see, might be a part of this- maybe he feels guilty for taking part in the protest and kicking off the chain of events that might yet re-traumatise his mother?) [See also the Fridge tab.]
