Didi - Der Experte (1988)

The film is set against the backdrop of a (fictional) mayoral election campaign between the major parties, the “German People’s Party,” or DVP (modeled on the CDU), and the “German Progressive Party,” or DFP (modeled on the SPD). While the various factions are out canvassing for votes, Willi Schulze is fed up. A mechanic disillusioned with politics, he lives with Paul, an orphan boy who has run away, in a backstreet garage. He never misses a chance to grumble about politicians or tear down campaign posters. When his car breaks down during a test drive, he is given a lift by Willy Schneider, a campaign expert the DVP has brought over from the United States (hence the title). Schneider intends to help the DVP win with slogans like “Don’t think twice, it’s alright!” During the drive, they have an accident in which Schneider is seriously injured and Schulze loses his memory. Since all their identity documents are destroyed, people mistake Schulze for the American expert because he has taken on Schneider’s expressions. After a stay in hospital that brings back the (false) personality, Schulze rises to become the DVP’s savior, despite being somewhat clumsy. He advances the party with Schneider’s slogans as well as with banal observations from his former life (“We need to step on the gas!”, “We need to tighten the screws!” and “Full speed ahead into the sun!”). But the DFP opposition also wants to win Schulze over, and the pseudo-expert himself begins to doubt who he is. It is only when Paul is found by the orphanage’s enforcers, and a dissatisfied customer wrecks the garage, that Schulze’s memories return. Now that he has recovered his memory, Schulze plays the parties off against one another and exposes the dirty campaigning of everyone involved as a lot of hot air, characterized by everyday lies and hypocrisy—which he also makes public to the voters. On election night, both the DVP and the DFP suffer heavy losses. Schulze plans to use the television broadcast to clear up the misunderstanding over his mistaken identity together with Schneider, who has recovered. But Schneider was in the same hospital as Schulze and, after undergoing brainwashing, now thinks he is the mechanic. Because of the TV scandal and the electoral defeats he has caused, Schulze is to be committed to a psychiatric hospital. In the end, however, Paul Wudke, who has run away again, manages to free him from his predicament. The two start a new life.