In 1985, before the re-unification of Germany, Felix (Sigurd Rachman) a queen in West Berlin is in a happy relationship with an American from Los Angeles. While showing his American lover around East Berlin, Felix spots cute Thomas (Rainer Strecker). After a few lustful stares Felix introduces himself. The two become lovers in a passionate relationship. Their only problem is they live on opposite sides of the Berlin wall. The relationship with the American ends, and from then on Felix travels back and forth to East Berlin as often as he can because the curfew forces him to return every evening. Felix and Thomas have only one day per week and four to five hours to be together. When the East German authorities become suspicious, Felix is pulled over and that's when the troubles begin. Thomas decides to flee to the West. They go to Prague and from there Thomas is told that he will be smuggled to Hungary from where he must make his own way to Yugoslavia. The movie ends without telling us what happens next, which is quite disappointing considering it's not a cliff-hanger serial.
Don’t expect too much from this film. After Germany's re-unification, it has historical value but has lost its relevance since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It does tell us to never allow walls to be built between us again. In its time it was a fringe indie film that justified itself on its political predicaments, but there’s little else in terms of character development, plot, or any emotional stimuli that keeps it relevant. Despite its political baggage the film seems shallow, never showing us the atrocities that happened in East Germany. Instead we see an awkward strip search and a few moody faces at the border. The film looks dated, the sound is in mono, and the faded footage looks almost like a home movie. At one point we lose the sound for a 20-minute montage. Partly filmed incognito and illegally in East Germany, there are sections where, due to the lack of a microphone, the actors are moving their mouths but we cannot hear them. This was caused by the East German government not allowing sound to be recorded outside. The 1980's synthesizer soundtrack is something you'll enjoy or hate. "Westler" is a conventional film in German with English sub-titles. Engelbert Rehm composed the original music, Egbert Hörmann and Wieland Speck wrote the screenplay, and Wieland Speck directed. The English title is "East of the Wall" or "Westler: East of the Wall".
