It’s hard to imagine casually walking past a historically significant object without noticing it; however, American Sector shows us that this can and does happen with sections of the Berlin Wall scattered across the United States. The filmmakers set out to commemorate these historically significant objects by documenting their current locations.
Traversing across the United States, The American Sector finds sections of the Berlin Wall in likely and unlikely public and private collections including prudential libraries, museums, colleges and universities, government agencies, a food court, on the side of a highway, and in the middle of the woods.
With a mixture of home movies, news footage, and interviews, filmmakers Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez capture these historically significant facades and pieces of art as they currently reside.
The owners of some of the Berlin Wall's sections describe how and why they procured these objects. In other sections, individuals in the area are interviewed and asked what the Wall means to them. Often, these individuals offer a contemporary interpretation of the object based on recent political debates linking the past use of this wall to the current debate of wall construction on the southern border or the broader racial history of the United States. However, in many cases throughout this film, the section of the Berlin Wall just sits as a backdrop as people go through their everyday lives.
While the film is beautifully shot and honest in its ability to document the location of a significant number of sections of the Berlin Wall in the United States, it creates more questions than provide answers. Most notably, viewers will be left wondering how sections of this historical object came into private hands or ended up in unlikely locations. The answer is provided in only a few cases. Most notably is the restaurant owner in Georgia who purchased a section at a government auction. The original owner had defrauded investors and the auction was a way for those who were victims to recoup their money.
Overall, those with an interest in the Cold War and public history will find this film interesting; however, for the general viewer, it might need additional context. Optional but not a necessary purchase. Adu: I, J, H, C, P