'The American Sector' film review: Poignant Americana take on a Cold War artifact
Decades after the end of the Cold War, the engrossing documentary 'The American Sector' (streaming at Metrograph and in theaters nationwide June 25) tracks down the fragmented pieces of the Berlin Wall located throughout America
In short: Filmmakers document where various fragments of the Berlin Wall have been scattered across the United States.
This film is exactly as advertised - and yet so much more. This is essentially a fly-on-the-wall road trip, noting the various locations where pieces of the infamous wall have found a home in the United States. Except to ask the occasional person what the Berlin Walls means to them, filmmakers Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez take a very hands-off approach, allowing 'Sector' to become a work of pure composition and observation.
'Sector' finds quiet ways to surprise the audience as the documentary jumps around the United States. It's not shocking to see a section of the wall carefully preserved behind plexiglass at the JFK Presidential Library, juxtaposed with Kennedy's remarks on communism and the Cold War. But it's a quietly amusing transition to then immediately jump to some nondescript stretch of an Interstate freeway, to just see slabs of the same famed wall ... just sitting outside, seemingly unmarked, exposed to the elements.
Who knew when the Berlin Wall fell that it would be broken up in pieces large and small, and those pieces would be strewn across the U.S? While the concrete and rebar pieces are the common thread of this documentary, 'Sector' is more keenly focused on how Americans regard the Wall - from a kid's vague understanding of the Cold War, to a woman dutifully caring for the wall as she describes life in communist USSR. This film could easily have been an idiosyncratic movie noting the quirky places where segments of the wall, but this thoughtful documentary directly connects a fragmented piece of history to never forgetting lessons borne from history.
Take note Frederick Wiseman: this is how to create a thematically rich, slice-of-life visual essay. Clocking in at less than 70 minutes, 'Sector' doubles as a captivating and sometimes idiosyncratic look at all the various caretakers the Wall has throughout America, as well as a compelling portrait of a historic artifact symbolizing tyranny and hope. Hopping around the nation, discovering historic monuments hiding in plain sight is the fun of this insightful documentary - a film that also recontextualizes a Cold War relic for the modern era. More time has passed since its fall than the 28 years the Berlin Wall stood dividing Germany, and this poignant doc connects the past to the present.
Final verdict: This engrossing mosaic is a snapshot of post-Cold War life combined with a sometimes strange but always reverent Americana take on history as a museum piece, history as art and sometimes history just as a piece of landscaping.
Score: 4.5/5
'The American Sector' is streaming now at Metrograph and opens in theaters nationwide starting June 25. This documentary is unrated and has a runtime of 67 minutes.
