Hollywood Behind the Wall: The Cinema of East Germany

Abstract

Reviewed by: Hollywood Behind the Wall: The Cinema of East Germany Barton Byg Hollywood Behind the Wall: The Cinema of East Germany. By Daniela Berghahn. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005. ix + 296 pages. £16,99. This is the first English-language general survey of East German cinema in book form, and as such is a welcome and useful addition to the literature. The author sets out clearly the goals of the book, which in general are quite elegantly met: "This book aims to shift the focus eastwards by providing a representative survey of feature films made by DEFA [...] as well as those made by East German filmmakers after German unification. By situating East German cinema in the broader contexts of international cinema and cultural history, I aim to make East Germany's still largely unknown film culture accessible to scholars of European film studies, German Studies and historians. [...] [T]his monograph provides a much-needed general survey which aims to complement the growing number of publications focusing on specific aspects or periods of East German cinema" (2). [End Page 256] The book concentrates its analysis of the films themselves on their themes and plots, which does serve the historical contextualization in some ways but limits the book in others. It would be most useful in teaching and research as a quick and scholarly guide to situating GDR cinema among a range of other national cinemas. Presentation of individual films is limited by space and generally would require additional resources. On this latter count, the book seeks to go beyond the "canon" of films already most familiar, on the one hand, while featuring works that are most likely to be viewable by readers on the other. As a result, the book's contribution to film studies and German Studies is strongest on the level of cultural and institutional histories—comparing the various ways German films treat the Nazi past, for instance, or the institutional and regulatory approaches to "managing" culture in State socialism. The author seeks to "move beyond the still prevalent ideologically charged assessment of East Germany's cinematic legacy and its film industry by re-evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of film production and circulation under state socialism and by providing a more balanced account of the rationale behind this system of cultural production" (3). The first chapter outlines the relation of the film industry to the state and the conclusion treats German cinema after unification from the Eastern point of view. Chapters 2 through 5 treat for the most part "canonical" themes in GDR cinema such as the anti-fascist film and the banned films of the mid-1960s. The most original contribution the book makes, I believe, is the interpretation of the work of Egon Günther and the connection of GDR costume films to the European heritage film. The chapter on Eastern "women's films," by contrast, stresses their affirmative and non-feminist approach, and seems to me to accept too readily the 1970s West German feminist reaction. This chapter seems to ignore other possible interpretations of representations of women by non-feminist artists as well as the quite lively interaction between GDR socialism and western women's groups from the 1970s on. Here the exclusive concentration on feature films may lead to cultural generalization that may not hold up under scrutiny. The limitations with the book's film analyses seem primarily to be the result of its brevity and chosen focus. The author has done extensive and original research, viewing and situating a vast number of films from many countries. The footnotes and bibliography are quite thorough and up to date. I would love to read more, though, about some unreferenced anecdotes, for instance on Ho Chi Minh as a DEFA fan (44). The book thus provides an excellent basis for teaching and a guide to further research. For less informed readers, however, the lack of a glossary or of an explanation of "who's who" in regard to the cultural figures quoted could be an obstacle. The overview structure of the presentation has the effect of flattening out the material, rather than aiding the reader in following how the author came to the information...