A Woman in Berlin (Sunday, August 2, 2009) (106)

This movie is an adaptation of a journal/memoir 'Anonyma - A Woman in Berlin' written by a woman who lived in Berlin right after the Red Army 'liberated' the city in April and May of 1945. The story is really amazing. Virtually all of the Berliner men were either still away fighting, in prisons or dead and the female population of the city was effectively turned into hapless sex slaves. The Soviet soldiers would go into the bombed out apartment blocks where the women lived and grab one or more of them to rape. (It's really difficult to watch, actually.)

Ultimately, the main character, played wonderfully by Nina Hoss (who had another fantastic performance earlier this year in the fantastic film Jerichow), realizes that if she becomes the personal pet of the senior officer on the scene, she can get gifts (including hard-to-find food) and protection from the hordes of lower-level soldiers who would otherwise take advantage of her and her friends.

Of course doing this means that she becomes a willing whore rather than an unlucky victim. But it does allow her some control over her body and is better than the alternative. It's a fascinating moral dilemma. As a way to protect herself and save her own life, she has to debase herself lower (morally).

On top of this, the Soviet major who she befriends, seems to not be an animal and has a good heart and an elevated mind. He never excuses his actions (that he's letting his men rape the German women and that he personally has taken up an illicit mistress effectively against her will), but he's so charming and nice with the woman that he makes us forget at times the terrible situation he's taking part in and allowing. It becomes unclear at times whether the woman really doesn't want this life, or if it's exciting for her to be with this handsome man with a cultured mind.

The film has a beautiful look, directed by Max Farberbock (I don't know his work, but he's apparently been actively working in Germany for the past 20-some years). Almost all of the city that we see is bombed out rubble heaps with buildings peppered with bullet and mortar shell holes. The exterior scenes are overexposed and have a beautiful white and yellowness to them. The interiors are dark and show what remains of the rich rugs, paintings and wooden furniture that filled the places before the war. The costumes are simple and inconspicuous, but are used well to convey the woman's state of mind and view of self at a particular moment.

This is a very effective and interesting film and brilliantly questions our ideas of victimhood. Many of the women (including the main woman) say that they are avowed Nazis and were proud of their husbands and countrymen for their work. Do these women deserve pain and suffering because they support a morally reprehensible political belief? Clearly not, but didn't they support worse atrocities their army was performing? It is hard to rank *evil*, but that is what we have to do here. These women might support bad things in the abstract, but when specific bad things befall them, we are clearly not happy (as we might be in another film where female Nazi supporters get what we feel is their comeuppance).

Stars: 3.5 of 4