In 1986, Ross McElwee and Marilyn Levine were making a film about the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall, when the imposing structure was still very much intact as the world’s most visible symbol of hardline Communism and Cold War lore. They thought they were making a documentary on the community of tourists, soldiers, and West Berliners who lived in the seemingly eternal presence of the graffiti emblazoned eyesore.

But in 1989, as the original film neared completion, the Wall came down, and McElwee and Levine returned to Berlin, this time to capture the radically different atmosphere of the reunified city.

" [Must Have] SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE WALL obviously belongs in both public and school libraries. Though this is a very personal and individualized program, it does reach out and draw the viewer, spinning an exquisite web that holds one enchanted." - Andrew A. Aros, Video Rating Guide for Libraries