In this experimental feature film, Russian Major Viktor Borisovitch Lazutkin (Svetozar Cvetkovic) suddenly has to find his way in a Berlin without a wall. He was part of the former Soviet occupation army and was left behind in the German capital alone. His comrades have already returned to Russia, but his wife doesn't seem to miss him there. Another man is already living in their apartment. Borisvitch decides to stay in Berlin and finally says to himself, “I am a Berliner.”
Makavejev skillfully juxtaposes this absurd but essentially banal story with archive material, documentary snippets and scenes from “The Fall of Berlin”, a Stalinist agitprop film from 1949. He exposes the brutality of Stalinism, beheads Lenin at the end and carries Soviet socialism to the grave.
In this experimental feature film, Russian Major Viktor Borisovitch Lazutkin (Svetozar Cvetkovic) suddenly has to find his way in a Berlin without a wall. He was part of the former Soviet occupation army and was left behind in the German capital alone. His comrades have already returned to Russia, but his wife doesn't seem to miss him there. Another man is already living in their apartment. Borisvitch decides to stay in Berlin and finally says to himself, “I am a Berliner.”
Makavejev skillfully juxtaposes this absurd but essentially banal story with archive material, documentary snippets and scenes from “The Fall of Berlin”, a Stalinist agitprop film from 1949. He exposes the brutality of Stalinism, beheads Lenin at the end and carries Soviet socialism to the grave.