The book claims to explore the place of politics in German film might appear, in the eyes of the expert, naïve or, at best, overly ambitious given the sheer complexity and intricacy of the topic-assuming that indeed one agrees to speak of "one" topic. These plausible concerns appear even more valid if one considers that the essays in this volume do, in fact, explore overtly political questions addressed in seminal films ranging from the Wilhelmine era through the Weimar years and the Nazi period, the postwar years, East German cinema and West German. cinema, and finally postunification Germany.