Jaimey Fisher (Davis, California) p.56-74
2010 Issue 3
Cultural Encounters in Contemporary German Cinema
Abstract
Christian Petzold is among the most critically acclaimed film directors of post-1989 Germany, and his Jerichow is particularly intriguing because, on the one hand, it addresses an issue of contemporary controversy, namely, ethnic diversity in Germany, while also, at the same time, emphatically positioning itself within world cinema by taking as its inspiration a US-novel and film cycle, the Postman Always Rings Twice. The film engages specific national discourses while emphatically underscoring German cinema’s place within the larger system of world cinema (and especially global genres). In order to analyze Petzold’s Jerichow and comprehend its politics, the essay takes up its multiple contexts, including: that of the so-called Berlin School, of the many German films about Germany’s growing ethnic diversity, and of US film noir, which Petzold cited as the inspiration and basis for his film. In particular, Petzold’s deployment of spaces, both domestic space and what Edward Soja has called a “third space”, reflect his engagement with the genre of film noir, the tradition of Turkish-German films, and what theorists have called uneven geographical development, that is, globalization. Ultimately, the film deliberately moves beyond the conventional, German-host versus Turkish-guest relation and into one of reciprocal interaction and influence.