By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Courtney Stephens | Pacho Velez
Country: united_states
Year: 2021
Running time: 67
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9656126/reference
Bob says: “Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez traveled all over the US to document sections of the Berlin Wall that ended up here. They found them at corporations, restaurants, libraries, rich people’s homes, on the side of the highway, museums, universities, and nondescript city blocks, and spoke to some of the people they encountered in those places, seeking to find out what it means to them.
“A director at the George HW Bush library, asked what the wall means to people who visit the museum, says ‘It means many things to many people. It means freedom, it means a reunited Germany to the Germans, an end to the Cold War, and uh, it means many things to many — freedom.’ Maybe he’s just not accustomed to being on camera.
“A rich guy in Laurel Canyon who has a section in his yard, when it’s pointed out to him that there are more sections of the wall in LA than elsewhere, theorizes that it’s because it’s such a media town — that the fact that people saw the wall come down on live TV makes it a media artifact.
“A Ukrainian woman who lives in the US now, but grew up in the Soviet Union and was there when it ended gives an explanation that comes from experience: that it’s good to give people freedoms, but it’s hard for them to adjust to such changes. She grew up with portraits of Lenin everywhere she looked, and when they all came down, she cried.
“A Latina woman in Miami makes an interesting point about the immigrant experience being mostly about fleeing from bad situations, so the wall makes her think of desperate people in East Germany. To her, it’s a ‘hurtful symbol’ rather than one of hope.
“A Black man in Cincinnati says that the wall means that the oppressed people here in the US weren’t alone in their situation, or in resisting it.
“Winston Churchill’s granddaughter, who created a sculpture from sections of the wall that’s kept at the FDR presidential library, points out that the wall coming down meant so much to the world, but now (at the time she was interviewed) new walls are going up.
“What do I think of? Nina Hagen (although that story may be apocryphal), WINGS OF DESIRE, and that verse from Heroes:
‘I, I can remember
Standing by the wall
And the guns shot above our heads
And we kissed as though nothing could fall
And the shame
Was on the other side’
3 and a half cats”
Chris says: “Remnants of the Berlin Wall, scattered all over America from a presidential library to decoration in front of a restaurant. Works as a quirky human interest piece, only becoming richer when it makes allusions to other walls both literal (the Border Wall) and figurative (the Mason-Dixon Line.) A little slight for a feature, so cherish the 69-minute running time. 3 cats“