Staging the Border: National Identity and the Critical Geopolitics of West German Film

Abstract

Geopolitical readings of films have so far largely focused on the latter's ideological function. Yet, as is argued here, such a narrow view of film is not entirely justified. Thus, it is the declared aim of the paper to challenge this still prevalent position. In proposing a critical understanding of film, an analysis of three West German ‘border narratives’ demonstrates how these can be usefully understood in terms of a ‘critical geopolitics’. Their representations of West German national identity show a people deeply affected by the geopolitical changes that occurred after the Second World War. More precisely, as the Berlin Wall became the national symbol for West Germany, filmic portrayals of men and women close to the German-German border take centre stage in these productions. As we encounter their stories we watch them divided between the desire for ‘home’ and the reality of ‘homelessness’.