Jochen Hick’s documentary ‘The GDR Complex’ (Panorama) demonstrates that conflicting accounts invigorate the artistic process. It namely resists the temptation to film the contemporary history of a victim of the Stasi, a story with which Mario Röllig explains East Germany in schools and at CDU events nowadays. Despite the familiarity with his protagonist, Hick repeatedly compares antagonistic conceptions of the past to one another […] to also present the occasionally humorous proximity the two apparently remote recollecting fractions have with one another, and both of which depend upon East Germany for reasons of legitimacy to this day. Jochen Hick remains very close, asks clarifying question from off-screen, even occasionally makes a joke from behind the camera. The contradictions, the substantive inconsistencies, the tragedy of a life that became a highly political one out of very private reasons is something he never loses sight of. A complex film, as stated in the title.

Matthias Dell, Neben dem Schirm – Der Freitag (16.02.16)