Back to the west

In between capitalism's high-rises, fast food chains and tourist folklorism lays a former cross point between East and West Berlin: Checkpoint Charlie. Here one can buy a piece of the Berlin wall, a GDR flag or pay to get their photo taken next to a fake American and GDR soldier. That is the job of Maxim, wearing a costume of a GDR border soldier. The absurdity of this scenario is clearly eating on him and to take a breath, to have a cigarette, he escapes across the street - the former border between East and West Berlin and today’s border of legal districts Kreuzberg, where he can pursue his job, and Mitte in which his trade is illegal. He seeks shelter next to an American fast food temple, when MAGDALENA - a worker from there - argues that she is also wearing a (fast food) uniform to get the money she needs for a living, so he should simply accept it.