Bus "Hold Up" Scene

When Professor Armstrong and Sarah are on the bus, they reach a roadblock and are in effect robbed by a group of bandits who appeared to be dressed in some sort of military attire. This may seem like a random 'throw-in' scene, or maybe a plot device to get the bus a police escort. However it's not completely random....

Back in 1986 or 1987 my parents traveled to East Germany and Poland, before the Curtain came down. They were taking a train from Berlin to Warsaw I believe. Somewhere on the way, the train stopped, and all passengers were forced by soldiers or police to disembark. They were only allowed back on the train if each passenger paid something like 20 marks (before the euro). My dad said they did not accept any foreign money. Luckily he had just exchanged some dollars for marks at the airport before boarding the train, and had enough to pay off the soldiers for my aunt and uncle, my mom and himself. Who knows what would have happened if they didn't have the money, but he always said it was a pretty sticky situation at the time.

So anyway, when that scene popped up in the film, I had a certain appreciation for it that the typical viewer probably doesn't have. That kind of stuff apparently did happen over there.