Documentary Film: Being Moved by Memory

Abstract

The final medium of testimony to be considered in this study is documentary film. A large number of non-fiction films with the Stasi as their focus have been produced since 1990, and particularly since the Oscar-winning success of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s blockbuster film The Lives of Others (2006).¹ The question of authenticity was central in the reception of this fictional representation of the East German State Security Service and debates raged over whether its improbable story of conversion and numerous errors of detail detracted from its significance as a portrayal of oppression in the East German state. Some saw the film as an ‘antidote to Ostalgie’ (Bradshaw, 2007; see also Gauck, 2006) and authentic in its presentation of the impact of the Stasi on private lives; others felt that the film did not match up to the director’s claims of authenticity (for example, Gieseke, 2008; Lindenberger, 2008) and considered the portrayal of the ‘good’ Stasi officer to be a distortion of history.²