i be lucky enough to see 59 out of 89 minute of this tv film and would recommend it to anyone who be interested in the culture of avant garde germany in the 1920 and the link between weill and the american musical genre and opera and the relationship between weill and bertolt brecht and lotte lenya . it be a film that explore weill movement from germany to america and extract of the music he write in both country from the 20 to 1950. the film show an eclectic cast interpret his music and in the process reveal the atmosphere of his work and allow the viewer to discover the relationship between the cabaret scene of berlin in the 20 and 30 and the birth of the american musical and a connection to modern opera . nick cave sings his most famous song write for the threepenny opera and mack the knife ( a favourite of frank sinatra and many others ) . lou reed do one number and teresa stratas sings youkali and another number beautifully and elvis costello sings lose in the star and william s. burroughs give a spoken or sung rendition of what keep mankind alive which be pretty amaze in itself . the song in this programme create an atmosphere that be unmistakable and i find the treatment totally sympathetic to weill and his music . there be a number of voice over of lotte lenya ( weill wife ) sing well know song from his back catalogue and even bertolt brecht sing a number . it be intercut with industrial and military image from hitler germany and go on to show early footage of america . i think the film lovingly produce and enjoy every second of it and my only disappointment be that i do not manage to catch the whole film . the music be as compelling a you would imagine from a man be consider the equal of and collaborate with langston hughes and moss hart and maxwell anderson and ira gershwin and bertolt brecht and make a reputation blend classical opera and folk music and dissonant jazz . despite the previous reviewer lack of familiarity with weill his work have attract interpretation by well know artist of the past and continue to do so e. g. rise stevens and beatrice arthur and adolph green and gertrude lawrence and danny kaye and chita rivera and ann miller and sting and tom wait and marianne faithful and marc almond and the door and dagmar krause and david bowie and ute lemper and so on . this be a film that use a montage of image and voice over and song and music to create an understanding and it isn not a linear narrative throughout although it do explore his life in a linear representation of his movement and work . it be fascinate and poignant and be not just a film and it transcend the category and at point becomes art . the presentation on tv be accompany by subtitle for the occasional number sung in german . the decision to do this give the viewer the advantage of listen to the expressive quality of the word and music with a translation to aid understanding . i can not recommend this film highly enough .