BRUDERLAND IST ABGEBRANNT (BROTHERLAND IS BURNED OUT)

In the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, Berlin Schönefeld quietly closed its doors forever, with a large part of its infrastructure becoming incorporated into the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which opened in October 2020. Angelika Nguyen’s 1991 documentary film BRUDERLAND IST ABGEBRANNT portrays the airport, now already a relic, as a discourteous heterotopia, where Vietnamese workers are given a terse farewell as compensation for building the economy of the former East Berlin. More than just a document, the film is a testimony to the reprehensible treatment of Vietnamese guest workers. Having endured abuse, violent attacks, forced abortions and appalling living conditions, the workers were left without employment once the agreements signed by the reunified Socialist Republic of Vietnam and East Germany became null and void post-reunification. The film depicts life both inside and outside the worker dormitories, with the most persuasive scenes shot inside the airport. German bureaucracy is revealed to be sadly incompetent in performing a respectful valediction to the departing comrades. Karina Griffith