Hüben und drüben (On Both Sides)

1964, 39 min., b/w, documentary
Dir.: Walter Heynowski
Script: Walter Heynowski
Camera: Wolfgang Randel
Music: André Asriel
VHS-PAL, no subtitles - renting information

Synopsis:

This film documents the East Germans’ criticism of West German capitalism and the country's free market economy. Here, the West Germans are portrayed as being somewhat oppressed- their landlords having the freedom to increase rents and cancel housing contracts at will (a result of a law known as the “Lücke Plan”). A prime example of a propaganda film, Hüben und drüben shows the East Germans to be a relatively blessed people; utterly content with their fair, corruption-free system.