Thursday, March 31, 2011
Anonyma: Eine Frau in Berlin
The First German Movie I Watched without English Subs.
I should be proud of myself, seriously, but I'm afraid a lot has slipped past me considering how my German is. I watched it with German subs, which helped a lot. My ear for German isn't that good and I get in trouble when it's being spoken too fast.
The movie is horrible. I wanted to kick myself for picking it from lots of other FUNNY movies (you can always tell which ones they are--contorted faces on the cover, limbs in the wrong place, etc). About 20 minutes into it I was whimpering and hiding behind the covers. It does get a little better near the middle because she... ah, no spoilers. So it's not horrible as in bad acting, lousy directing, annoying background music, and the like--it does what it's supposed to, that is, drive home the point. And the point is shit happens. And for this woman's case, a lot of shit happened.
From what I understand, the main character was a well-to-do woman before the war. She was a journalist who travelled a lot. She spoke French and Russian fluently. She held parties during the war so she must have done quite well for herself. She was married to a soldier who was assigned some where in Europe. Oh, yeah, I had said no spoilers. I changed my mind.
When the Russians had come to Berlin, Berlin had suffered a lot of damage by then. Most of the buildings were blown into pieces, everything was gray and dusty and crumbling. There was a bunker of sorts where they ran to hide in when the bombings got really bad. Then the Russians arrived and her hell started. The horror she lived through was so unbearable I begged myself to stop watching--but I couldn't stop--I had to know. It had to get better. The situation was that bad--you knew there was no where left to go but up. Things did get better a bit, but they remained shitty till the end.
It looked like she fell in love with this Russian commander, but I think it was more Stockholm syndrome than anything else. He did rape her, in a way, her being in a vulnerable position. His character was very well portrayed by the actor, downplayed to just the right degree. The Russian commander seems to be battling his conscience all the time at the same time you can see that he doesn't want to (and you find out later why), and that he somehow comes to terms with all the evil things happening by making a semblance of normalcy around him and the circumstances that surround him (he woes her and everyone in her apartment).
They don't end up together, though.
And I hated that part. My brain simply rebelled against this unacceptable ending. HOW COULD THEY NOT HAVE ENDED UP TOGETHER?! He gave up so much for her and she... she rode her bike (the one he gave to her, I think, if I understood it right), to get to him, and she held his hand, and asked him, "Wie sollen wir leben?"
I think that means: HOW SHOULD WE LIVE?
..and he walks away without a word.
I should be proud of myself, seriously, but I'm afraid a lot has slipped past me considering how my German is. I watched it with German subs, which helped a lot. My ear for German isn't that good and I get in trouble when it's being spoken too fast.
The movie is horrible. I wanted to kick myself for picking it from lots of other FUNNY movies (you can always tell which ones they are--contorted faces on the cover, limbs in the wrong place, etc). About 20 minutes into it I was whimpering and hiding behind the covers. It does get a little better near the middle because she... ah, no spoilers. So it's not horrible as in bad acting, lousy directing, annoying background music, and the like--it does what it's supposed to, that is, drive home the point. And the point is shit happens. And for this woman's case, a lot of shit happened.
From what I understand, the main character was a well-to-do woman before the war. She was a journalist who travelled a lot. She spoke French and Russian fluently. She held parties during the war so she must have done quite well for herself. She was married to a soldier who was assigned some where in Europe. Oh, yeah, I had said no spoilers. I changed my mind.
When the Russians had come to Berlin, Berlin had suffered a lot of damage by then. Most of the buildings were blown into pieces, everything was gray and dusty and crumbling. There was a bunker of sorts where they ran to hide in when the bombings got really bad. Then the Russians arrived and her hell started. The horror she lived through was so unbearable I begged myself to stop watching--but I couldn't stop--I had to know. It had to get better. The situation was that bad--you knew there was no where left to go but up. Things did get better a bit, but they remained shitty till the end.
It looked like she fell in love with this Russian commander, but I think it was more Stockholm syndrome than anything else. He did rape her, in a way, her being in a vulnerable position. His character was very well portrayed by the actor, downplayed to just the right degree. The Russian commander seems to be battling his conscience all the time at the same time you can see that he doesn't want to (and you find out later why), and that he somehow comes to terms with all the evil things happening by making a semblance of normalcy around him and the circumstances that surround him (he woes her and everyone in her apartment).
They don't end up together, though.
And I hated that part. My brain simply rebelled against this unacceptable ending. HOW COULD THEY NOT HAVE ENDED UP TOGETHER?! He gave up so much for her and she... she rode her bike (the one he gave to her, I think, if I understood it right), to get to him, and she held his hand, and asked him, "Wie sollen wir leben?"
I think that means: HOW SHOULD WE LIVE?
..and he walks away without a word.
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