MovieChat Forums > Amerika (1987) Discussion > Who made up the SSU?

Who made up the SSU?

posted 14 years ago by KLange
5 replies | jump to latest

Did the movie specify who made up the Special Service Unit? Like any Russians or Cubans, for example?

[–] ronpur 14 years ago

It was my understanding most of them came from East Germany and other Easrern Bloc nations.

Yes, and the head of the SSU himself was East German (the handsome but evil-looking, scar-faced guy dressed in black...I don't remember the miniseries much, but I wish I could purchase the DVD).

[–] KLange 11 years ago

A newspaper archive article I came across said that the SSU included East Germans, Cubans, Hondurans, Chileans, Angolans, and Vietnamese.

[–] habsfannova 11 years ago

The only really visible person on the SSU is the East German commander...the standard uniform included gas masks, so you couldn't really tell.

[–] KLange 8 years ago

I thought the gas masks were actually metal visors. What was the purpose of them? Intimidation? Make the SSU personnel faceless, and thus clearly evil? Make it so you couldn't recognize them? Maybe one of the missions of the SSU was to suppress the occasional protest or riot.