Preserving the Wall's Ambivalence—Language, Structure and History in Jürgen Böttcher's Die Mauer

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe fall of the Berlin Wall was an event to which the media, and in particular television, reacted with the instantaneous creation of an historical narrative of victory and defeat. Jürgen Böttcher's Die Mauer is the most widely circulated exponent of a group of documentaries which gave a far more ambivalent account of events, and refused to provide an authoritative narrative. Böttcher's film makes sparse use of language and focuses on the material aspects of the Wall as well as on the physical responses which the structure elicits as it falls. These observations are contextualised by the projection of a montage of historical footage about the Wall on to the structure itself. This highlights the multi-dimensional nature of the Wall as an iconic space of official history and of private recollections. Overall, the open voice with which the film addresses its audience unsettles ready historical constructions.