This over-the-wall farce brings us the foibles of East-West relations with iconoclastic wit. Meier, a wallpaper hanger, yearns to travel; a sudden windfall, an inheritance from the West, finds him procuring a false passport. He temporarily defects and upon his return, discovers that his dual identity allows him constant passage between the Big Shopping Mall known as West Berlin and the grey, orderly streets of his hometown just beyond Checkpoint Charlie. Smuggling decadent capitalist wallpaper for the drab walls of East Berlin, Meier gains the kudos of his fellow comrades and a citation as "Hero of the Working Class." An ex-East Berliner himself, director Peter Timm's comic critique of socialism deems that a bit of entrepreneurial spirit goes a long way toward happiness. Meier also suggests that personal attachments can vault the obstructions of overbearing government. --Steve Seid