Watch In Heaven, Underground Movie 2011 Online

I am fairly certain that Britta Wauer’s In Heaven, Underground may just be the most uplifting movie ever made about a cemetery. Lively (har har), charming, and gorgeously shot, this film details the history of Weißensee, the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. Built in the 1850s in (East) Berlin, it has remained completely intact despite decades of war and chaos, and is in fact one of the few Jewish institutions to be left untouched by the Nazis despite its proximity to the heart of the German capital.Watch In Heaven, Underground Movie 2011 OnlineThe site itself is one of breathtaking beauty, as thick, lush foliage creates a green canopy over the grounds and camouflages the sometimes crumbling headstones. Wauer brings the grounds to life with detailed and vivid photography that highlights the cemetery’s place as both a place of great spiritual and emotional importance, but also as a sort of living thing unto itself. Over the course of the film we come to see Weißensee as more character than place – its sprawling grounds reveal personality, history and form of self-propagating resilience that allows the cemetery to in turn grow, change and heal.This character of the cemetery wraps around the lives and histories of the many people that it touches and houses, as well as those who maintain it. The community of people that coalesce around it are committed to its survival, and also to its well-being. I don’t know much about cemeteries in general, but I can’t imagine that there are many others that have such a large group of people working so fervently on the restoration of monuments, the continued preservation of plants and animals, and upholding basic integrity of a single cemetery site. Most seem to fall into states of fairly serious neglect – their monuments crumbled, their grounds unkempt and ugly. Here we see a genuine community formed around the spirit of Weißensee, an important cultural and emotional institution with a long history of service and community engagement.Shifting from archival footage and vintage photographs to interviews with the various employees, volunteers and families that make up the Weißensee community, In Heaven, Underground is a subtle but touching portrait of a space that both evolves and remains timeless. Almost like a sort of bubble within a hectic city, Weißensee seems to act independently of its surroundings, growing and changing constantly, in its own self-contained way. Its history keeps it grounded while its spirit keeps it moving. The film is testament to the power of its character and is a fascinating study in the relationships that people develop with spaces. Interviews reveal powerful attachments to Weißensee ranging from troubled and tragic, to sentimental and joyful. Of course, with over 150 years and over 100,000 graves, the surface is merely scratched over the course of the film, however, the perspectives that we are presented serve to pique our curiosity and heighten the mystique of the place. That there is so much more happening here that is unseen only furthers the cemetery’s character.Watch In Heaven, Underground Movie 2011 OnlineOf course, it is Wauer’s thoughtful direction and the salt-of-the-earth charm of her subjects that make this film so watchable. From a wisecracking old rabbi to a deeply reverent Gentile security guard, In Heaven, Underground is bursting with countless little narratives that wrap themselves around the larger story of a space that persists.