Post-wall German cinema and national history

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Since unification, a shift has taken place in Germans' view of their country's immediate past, with 1989 replacing 1945 as the primary caesura. The Cold War division, the failed socialist state, the '68 student movement, and the Red Army Faction - historical flashpoints involving political oppression, civil disobedience, and the longing for social justice - have come to be seen as decisive moments that unites East and West even as it divides them. Telling stories about a shared past, establishing foundational myths, and finding commonalities of experience are steps in the construction of national identity. Cinema provides an important forum in which notions of German history and national identity can be consumed, negotiated, and contested. This book looks at history films made since 1989, exploring how utopianism and political dissent have shaped German identity