Former East/Former West was shot in Berlin three years after German re-unification. Made up largely of street interviews done in all parts of the city, the video documents what the people in Berlin feel at the moment is their national identity. For forty years people in this divided city lived radically different lives; ideologically, economically, and socially. These differences were also reflected in their everyday routines, relationships and experiences, leading Silver to question what the two Germanies have in common, aside from their language. Questions such as ‘Why did these two countries decide to become one again?’ begin to undermine more basic concepts such as capitalism, socialism, freedom, history, patriotism, and the existence of nations.
Made up of hundreds of street interviews done in Berlin two years after the Reunification, Former East/Former West is a vital, surprisingly open, and at times disturbing documentary about what it means to be German at this particular moment in history. For forty-five years, residents of this divided city lived radically different lives, both in terms of ideology and everyday experience. Silver questions the very notion of a shared language, focusing on changing definitions of words for political and economic systems – democracy, freedom, capitalism, socialism – as well as words used to describe nations and identity – nationality, Germany, history, foreigners, home.
Watching the interviewees grapple with their own personal definitions of these ideologically loaded terms, viewers can’t help but ask these same questions to themselves. In this way, Silver’s project takes on a much larger scope, raising key question facing most countries today – what makes up a nation or a national identity; where do boundaries begin and end, who belongs within these boundaries and who does not..
“Anyone who wants to better understand why it is so difficult to ‘merge what belongs together’ will want to see this film.” Dr. Christopher Stomach, New Hampshire German Symposium
