A Woman in Berlin (2009)

That was an excellent one.

Just perfect...

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The most common title of this film in English is "A Woman in Berlin," based on the published diaries of an anonymous female author in 1959. The film presents in a riveting manner the moment when the Soviet forces entered Berlin in the final stage of World War II. The atrocities committed by the Soviets, especially in the rape of women in Berlin, are well chronicled. But this film places a face on the tragic developments, as recounted by the anonymous diarist.The film graphically conveys the brutality inflicted on civilians, especially the women, as the Soviet army awaits the arrival of the allies of England and America from the west. The time seems endless, as the Soviets are awaiting the unified effort to deliver the knockout punch to the Reichstag.Nina Hoss gives a complex and multi-layered performance as the anonymous journalist and Eugeny Sidikhim is the duty-bound yet vulnerable commanding officer, Andrej Rybkin with whom "Anonyma" has an affair. The film is careful to demonstrate the Anonyma's choice to develop her relationship with Andrej was purely based on survival. She made a conscious decision to exercise the limited amount of free will in her grasp to at least choose her partner. The film gives a fascinating portrayal of how their relationship develops.The film may be excessive in its lengthy for such a a drama that is essentially focused on one main relationship. For a film that ran over two hours, some of the secondary characters could have been developed more completely.It is shocking to contemplate there there was outrage in Germany when the diary was published in 1959. Incredibly, Anonyma was seen as a "collaborator" with the Soviets at the height of the Cold War. It is a credit to director Max Färberböck did not let this important memoir die, but brought in back to life in this moving and uncompromising film version. Bravo!

Pure, boring ahistorical Euro-trash. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the victory of Western Capitalism, the West is rewriting history. All films are propaganda. Film costs millions to make. Bankers/Financiers are not going to finance films where they teach working class people their own history. Period. The film doesn't work on a historical level nor as an artistic cinematic endeavor.From the point of view of history: Many family members & neighbors lived in Nazi Germany. This story is purely fictional. Were there any Russian soldiers who raped German women? Of course. American soldiers who raped German women? Of course. In fact, some women are being raped as we speak whether on the streets of New York City, Rome, or China. The relevant question to ask was whether the Soviet government ever encouraged or legalized rape during WW2? The answer is: Absolutely, not! Let's look at the time period: World War 2 was coming to an end and all of Eastern Europe went socialist. France, Italy, Germany, and Greece were also going to go socialist. The Finance Bankers of the US and Great Britain wanted to stop this from happening. Thus the Marshall Plan was created. It was a battle between the East and West for the hearts and minds of not only the East Germans, but the Central Europeans. If Russian soldiers were raping millions of East German women as this film falsely show, why did East Germany become socialist and remain socialist for over 40 years? Why are East Germans; particularly East German women protesting by the hundreds of thousands to restore socialism there? From the prospective of artistic endeavor: Because a film may have been created as a piece of propaganda doesn't mean the production values need to be low are unwatchable. Regardless of how I feel about Nazi Germany, many of their film productions like Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will were masterpieces of their time that still resonant to today's audience. Lousy direction, abysmal acting, horrible cinematography, and poor script make this film unwatchable. The cinematography is shot in an almost gray pallor. Why? I don't know. Was the world black and white before 1960? The script and dialogue is silly and vulgar beyond belief. I'm ashamed and my German Protestant Family would have been even more ashamed. To give just one of several examples: An old lady willingly raped repeatedly by Russian soldiers comments how Russian men love having sex with her because as she depicts with her hand her vagina is small like a pea; unlike Ukrainian women who have vaginas the size of grapefruits. First, why would any young soldier, let alone many, want to rape ugly, old women old enough to be their grandmother? It's ridiculous! More over the overt racism against Ukrainian women is offensive and the dialogue just plain smut. Women didn't speak like this when I was a young woman in NYC in the 1990's and they for sure didn't speak this way in sexually repressed post-war Germany.One last thing before I end my review: A relevant question to ask is why certain films are financed and not others? This was a film destined to flop at the box office, so why would Bankers finance bombs ? Simple: This was the period when Austerity began and workers throughout Europe were having their worker rights' destroyed, pensions decimated, and so on. The film's purpose is to make people doubt the possibility that a better alternative is possible, so people continue to accept the tyranny of the Robber-Baron, Finance Capitalists 1%. By demonizing the Soviet Union, the 1% is trying to indoctrinate into the population that all alternatives are worse. 1 Star-Rotten. Pure trash, if it would have been created to be trashy Euro-porn, it would have been less trashy.

Adopted from an anonymous writers experience during the last major offensive in Europe, A Woman In Berlin recounts a daily record of one woman's indefinite life during this bloody battle and eventual Soviet occupation. In the interest of self-preservation her memoirs explain how she sort autonomous protection, food and succour from two occupying army officers. The story focuses on various woman, as well as children and de-listed men. Their lives traumatised through warfare, fear of occupying army, lack of food and water and absence of missing loved-ones. More notably, the fear of violation. The first quarter of the film efficaciously makes visible the terrifying situation the residents found themselves in. Also, where the film succeeds is in illustrating the fate of women in war through the horrendous acts shown, and not shown. However, it is the emotional desolation that the film does not fully grasp. Yet, films adopted from novels generally do. The relationship between the anonymous writer and the officers becomes something like an Hollywood romance towards the end. Although, the combination of fear, extreme aversion and romance in times of trauma are without the absence of existence, it would have been highly unlikely in these circumstances. In addition, the novel is not romantic, it is an act of survival. Therefore, the horror and self-delusion of the situation could have been conveyed more practically.Mainly, "A Woman In Berlin" solicits the audience to question the morality of woman who have no protectors. The film does not attempt to set apart good and evil. The Red Army is not impersonated as evil. The Germans are not presented as good. The soldiers do not conceal their intentions.The woman do not conceal their horrific ordeal. Although, for many years afterwards concealing their ordeal became a standard based prohibited subject in Germany. Moreover, any mention of the barbaric actions of the Red Army was meet with hostility in the Soviet Union. At the time of publication in the late 1950's, the book was proscribed as untrue and unacceptable by certain nations. More surprisingly, even today, coincided with the theatrical realise, "A Woman In Berlin" still is proscribed as fiction by certain people.It has to realised, as the film makes known, the army and population of the ruined city mixed and collaborated willingly as well as unwillingly. in areas which the Soviets had captured and before the fighting in the centre of the city had stopped, the Soviet authorities took measures to start restoring essential services. Although, at the same time, the film does not let the audience forget the soldiers casual violation of people and property without fear of inflicting any punishment. History estimates 2 million woman were brutalised during the Red Armies advance through Eastern Europe and Germany. When caught in the middle of a war, everybody has their own story to tell. I had read the book some years prior to viewing the film. I will state anybody wanting to view "Woman In Berlin" should do this first and then read the novel. This way, the novel enumerates like a testimony of your observations. I concluded that the rape of German women was not a unique feature of this battle, but a condition of the atrocity of war generally. This film can not tell every woman's shuddering experience during the battle of Berlin. Perhaps more controversially, the choices each made to survive. This film is from the diary of one woman's experience in a ruined Berlin.

I haven't read the diary, but my father has and after we watched this together, he said that they got everything from the compelling book with its important testimony. This review is based upon the version with a two hour running time and six minutes of credits. After Berlin was taken over by Russian soldiers(among them men who had not had sex for four years) at the end of WW2, and raped 100.000 women, leading to the death of 10.000 of them. When this was first revealed in the late 50's, the truth outraged many in the country. It was called an attack on the virtue of female Germans. Fortunately, it was re-released in 2003, and now this excellent adaptation has hit theaters. There is apparently also a longer cut, and if the standard of this is maintained, it is undoubtedly great and worth it. This is gripping from start to finish. It all comes across as real and authentic(helped by the fact that they speak the three languages they are supposed to), and since this is entirely objective and doesn't take any sides in the conflict, you feel for both groups. The acting performances are spot-on. This has some marvelous little touches and details, and it is historically accurate. The characters are complex and psychologically credible. This is immensely well-produced. The camera-work and editing put you right in the situation when this fits, and is in general expertly done. This has extraordinary lighting. There are a few light portions that keep it from being all sad(without it taking away from how touching and engaging the rest of it is). It is tense and unpleasant when it means to be, albeit it isn't outright depressing. The atmosphere is built up well. There is a bit of moderate sexuality, nudity of both genders, brutal violence and disturbing content in this. The DVD comes with a trailer for this and ones for other films. I recommend this warmly to everyone mature enough for it. What happened should never be forgotten. 8/10