Bikes in Film: Barbara

Escape. For many of us, our bicycles are tools of escape. They take us away from the everyday, the common, the drudgery of routine.

In Barbara, a German film set in 1980s East Germany, the bicycle is also used as a tool, a means of escape. I don't want to get too deep into the plot, but just from the first sentence of this paragraph I am sure you can surmise it involves running up against the block wall of a repressive government, followed by an attempt to escape. There are romantic twists, and a contemplation of values, and how we arrive at choices concerning what is ultimately important in our lives. 

The wife picked this one out,  and I was not sure it would hold my interest, but it did. The bike scenes (there are multiple) are well done, and did have a part in keeping me focused; I don't think I would have been nearly as interested if Barbara had moved around in some sputtering old East German, or Russian, automobile. Check it out for some cold, rainy night viewing. Ha, ha - as if we have those around here anymore.