The Wall (1998 Belgian film)

Last updated
Le Mur
Directed by Alain Berliner
Written by Alain Berliner
Produced by Arte France, Haut et Court
Starring Daniel Hanssens
Pascale Bal
Music by Alain Debaisieux
Release date
18 December 1998.
Running time
65 min.
LanguagesDutch, French

The Wall (original title Le Mur) is a 1998 Belgian tragicomedy film, directed by Alain Berliner for the 2000, Seen By... series. The story is a surreal [1] satirical allegory of the bi-lingual problems in Belgium. [2] [3]

Contents

Plot

Belgium, 1999. Albert is a 35-year old Walloon philosopher who works as a Belgian fries salesman. His store is located right on the Belgian language border. He serves his customers in Flanders and bakes his fries in Wallonia. Albert fancies the Flemish woman Wendy. After a new year celebration Albert wakes up and discovers to his horror that overnight a giant wall has been built on the language border, effectively separating Flanders from Wallonia. His store is therefore cut in half. As a citizen of Wallonia he is only able to travel to Flanders by using a visa...

Production

The film was made for the 2000, Seen By... project, [4] initiated by the French company Hout et Court to produce films depicting the approaching turn of the millennium seen from the perspectives of 10 different countries. [5]

Cast

Related Research Articles

Walloons French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia

Walloons are a Romance cultural identity of people living for the most part in Belgium and the immediate adjacent regions of France. Walloons primarily speak langues d'oïl such as Belgian French, Picard and Walloon. Walloons are historically and primarily Roman Catholic.

Walloon Brabant Province of Belgium

Walloon Brabant is a province of Wallonia and Belgium. It borders on the province of Flemish Brabant and the provinces of Liège, Namur and Hainaut (Wallonia). Its capital and largest city is Wavre.

Wallonia French-speaking region of Belgium

Wallonia is one of the three regions of Belgium—along with Flanders and Brussels.

Provinces of Belgium Subdivisions of Belgium

The country of Belgium is divided into three regions. Two of these regions, Flanders and Wallonia, are each subdivided into five provinces. The third region, Brussels, is not divided into provinces, as it was originally only a small part of a province itself.

Articles related to Belgium include:

Flemish Movement Regionalist movement in Flanders, Belgium

The Flemish Movement is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought to promote Flemish culture and Dutch language as well as those who have sought greater political autonomy for Flanders within Belgium. It also encompasses nationalists who have sought the secession of Flanders from Belgium, either through outright independence or unification with the Netherlands.

French Community of Belgium One of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities in Belgium

In Belgium, the French Community refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation, which is controversial because its name in the Belgian constitution has not changed and because it is seen as a political statement. The name "French Community" refers to Francophone Belgians, and not to French people residing in Belgium. As such, the French Community of Belgium is sometimes rendered in English as "the French-speaking Community of Belgium" for clarity, in analogy to the German-speaking Community of Belgium.

Flemish Region Region of Belgium

The Flemish Region, usually simply referred to as Flanders, is one of the three regions of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. It occupies the northern part of Belgium and covers an area of 13,625 km2 (5,261 sq mi). It is one of the most densely populated regions of Europe with around 490/km2 (1,300/sq mi).

Municipalities with language facilities Municipalities in Belgium with language facilities

There are 27 municipalities with language facilities in Belgium which must offer linguistic services to residents in Dutch, French, or German in addition to their single official languages. All other municipalities – with the exception of those in the bilingual Brussels region – are unilingual and only offer services in their official languages, either Dutch or French.

Belgians Citizens or residents of Belgium

Belgians are people identified with the Kingdom of Belgium, a federal state in Western Europe. As Belgium is a multinational state, this connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural rather than ethnic. The majority of Belgians, however, belong to two distinct ethnic groups or communities native to the country, i.e. its historical regions: Flemings in Flanders, who speak Dutch, and Walloons in Wallonia, who speak French or Walloon. There is also a substantial Belgian diaspora, which has settled primarily in the United States, Canada, France, and the Netherlands.

Because modern Belgium is a multilingual country, Belgian literature is often treated as a branch of French literature or Dutch literature. Some writing also exists in the regional languages of Belgium, with published works in both the Walloon language, closely related to French, and also in various regional Flemish or Dutch-related dialects.

Cinema of Belgium Filmmaking in Belgium

Cinema of Belgium refers to the film industry based in Belgium. Belgium is essentially a bi-lingual country divided into the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) north and the French-speaking south. There is also a small community of German speakers in the border region with Germany. Belgium is further a federal country made up of three regions and three language communities . Due to these linguistic and political divisions it is difficult to speak of a national, unified Cinema of Belgium. It would be more appropriate to talk about Flemish or Dutch-language cinema of Belgium and Walloon or French-language cinema of Belgium.

Languages of Belgium Overview of the languages spoken in the Kingdom of Belgium

The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. A number of non-official, minority languages and dialects are spoken as well.

The Walloon Movement is an umbrella term for all Belgian political movements that either assert the existence of a Walloon identity and of Wallonia and/or defend French culture and language within Belgium, either within the framework of the 1830 Deal or either defending the linguistic rights of French-speakers. The movement began as a defence of the primacy of French but later gained political and socio-economic objectives. In French, the terms wallingantisme and wallingants are also used to describe, sometimes pejoratively, the movement and its activists. To a lesser extent, the Walloon Movement is also associated with the representation of the small German-speaking population in the East Belgium of the Walloon Region.

The Walloon Movement traces its ancestry to 1856 when literary and folkloric movements based around the Society of Walloon language and literature began forming. Despite the formation of the Society of Walloon Literature, it was not until around 1880 that a "Walloon and French-speaking defense movement" appeared, following the linguistic laws of the 1870s. The movement asserted the existence of Wallonia and a Walloon identity while maintaining the defense of the French language.

The partition of Belgium is a hypothetical situation, which has been discussed by both Belgian and International media, envisioning a split of the country along linguistic divisions, with the Flemish Community (Flanders) and the French-speaking Community (Wallonia) becoming independent states. Alternatively, it is hypothesized that Flanders could join the Netherlands and Wallonia could join France or Luxembourg.

The 2007–2011 Belgian political crisis was a period of tense communal relations and political instability in Belgium, which was rooted in the differing opinions on state reform, and in the continued existence of the controversial electoral district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (BHV). Parties from the Dutch-speaking Flemish Community are in general strongly in favour for a devolution of powers to the communities and regions, and the splitting of the unconstitutional BHV district, while French-speaking French Community of Belgium is generally in favour of retaining the status quo. After the 2010 elections, the topics of public debt, deficit cuts and socio-economic reform were added to the debate, with most Flemish parties in favour of finding money by strongly reducing spending, whilst the proposals supported by most French-speaking parties also included a significant raise in taxes. The crisis came to an end in December 2011 with the inauguration of a new federal government which agreed on partition of the BHV district and on policies aimed at tackling the economic downturn. The country's continuing linguistic divide played a large part in the crisis. Several times during the period Belgium was threatened to be split up amid rising Flemish separatism.

Rattachism

Rattachism or Reunionism (Réunionisme) is a minor political ideology which calls for the French-speaking part of Belgium or Wallonia to secede from Belgium and become part of France. Brussels, which is majority French-speaking but enclaved in Flanders, may be included within this ideology as may the six Flemish municipalities with language facilities for French-speakers around Brussels. It can be considered a French-speaking equivalent of Orangism or Grootneerlandisme in Flanders.

The history of Wallonia, from prehistoric times to the present day, is that of a territory which, since 1970, has approximately coincided with the territory of Wallonia, a federated component of Belgium, which also includes the smaller German-speaking Community of Belgium. Wallonia is the name colloquially given to the Walloon Region. The French word Wallonie comes from the term Wallon, itself coming from Walh. Walh is a very old Germanic word used to refer to a speaker of Celtic or Latin.

Manifesto for Walloon culture

The Manifesto for Walloon Culture, was published in Liège on 15 September 1983 and signed by seventy-five "key figures in artistic, journalistic and university circles" of Wallonia.

References

  1. Bainbrigge, Susan; Charnley, Joy; Verdier, Caroline (2010). Francographies. ISBN   9781433103483 . Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  2. "Critique - Le Mur d'Alain Berliner (Webzine n° 17 - Mai 1998) - Webzine de Cinergie.be" . Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  3. "Alain Berliner » Le mur". alainberliner.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-23.
  4. "Le Mur," Haut et Court, URL accessed 15 August 2016.
  5. Yoram Allon, Del Cullen, Hannah Patterson, Contemporary North American Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide, Wallflower Press, 2002, p. 367.