Fig..Kuhle Wampe,DVD capture. The
Bönikefamily: mother and son.
Fig..Kuhle Wampe,DVD capture. The Bö-
nikefamily: father and son.Fig..Kuhle Wampe,DVD capture. The Bö-
nikefamily: father and daughter.
Fig..Kuhle Wampe,DVD capture. Anni and
Fritz at the workers’sportfestival.The conditionsfor operativity inKuhleWampeare established through abi-
furcated structure that combines fiction and documentaryinmutuallyilluminat-
ing ways.Inthe first half, the storyofthe Bönike familyistold asafamiliar so-
cial drama that begins withaheatedlunchtime discussion about unemployment
and the suicideofthe unemployed son, continues with the eviction of the family
to atent city near Müggelsee, and culminates in the daughter’srushed engage-
ment,brief breakup, and eventual reconciliation with her boyfriend (see figure
18.3,18.4, 18.5, and 18.6). Introducedasacounterpoint to the wish fantasies per-
petuated by classicalgenre cinema, the documentary sequencesinthe film’ssec-
ond half introduceacompellingalternative to these experiences of lack of
choice, namely the sense of unity and solidarity found in communist party
work and workers’sport.Operativity,inthat sense, means to persuade the fic-
tional characters in the storyline, the extras in the documentary sequences,
and the movie-theateraudiences to agree on one simple point:the urgent
need to changethe world.
The articulation ofarevolutionary strategy, however,required the kind of
mass supportavailable onlyinBerlin,the center of proletarian mobilizationdur-
322 Chapter 18