5 Responses to “Woman in Berlin”

• mk says:

  March 16, 2010 at 12:09 pm

  I don’t like this movie. It deserves 5 stars for superb acting, an horrific and heartwrenching story based on the true accounts, grim sets and photography, and a pervading mood of despair.

  A German journalist, Nina Hoss as the dark eyed, beat-up, unintentional siren, stays behind in Berlin to document the invasion by the Russians(Soviets). Soon, she finds herself caught up in the rape and destruction of the city, and it’s helpless civilians. After repeated attacks against herself, in desperation, she seeks out a protector, and finds a mysterious Russian officer(Evgeny Sidikhin)with a haunted past. Interested in her but somewhat reluctantly, he agrees, and what follows becomes a tale of relationships and common ground amidst hell on earth.

  Without wanting to justify them, the writers, to a degree, show both sides of the conflict. The Russians, in general, long for their families, hate the war which dragged them in there, and relate awful memories of the atrocities that the Germans laid on their homeland. Paying evil for evil does not make right their actions in any way, but I suppose it brings a sort of balance and understanding to the story.

  Thankfully, the assaults are shown non-gratuitously, and there is a scene of nudity to make a point, but that’s about it for graphic filming. But one gets the message. The whole film is depressing. I think the only sense of hope provided comes from the heroine’s desire to survive, to keep her sanity and a sense of decency no matter what.

  The written epilogue is almost as disturbing. Societies’ answer is to hide away it’s past instead of dealing with it. A tough film. I won’t watch it again.
  Rating: 5 / 5
• S. Blanchard says:

  March 16, 2010 at 2:38 pm

  I was not able to find this movie at any of the video rental stores so I was anxious to see how this subject would be presented. This subject was mentioned in a book by Cornelious Ryan called “The Last Battle” where Ryan mentioned that the Russians raped thousands of German women during the Battle for Berlin. The Russians felt this was revenge of all the terrible things the Nazis did in the Soviet Union. I noticed that a couple of people also were in another movie by the same producer called “Downfall” so you can tell the set and story line was done with the same amount of attention to detail. It starts out great with the German civilians hiding in the basements and cellars of the building hoping that they will not be harmed. But, in the end, the Russians storm the buildings and start picking out women who are raped (not too graphic scenes but you get the idea). I like the scene where the German commander is forced to talk on the loud speaker that Hitler is dead and for the German civilians or soldiers to cease fighting. The Russians break out with a large cheer and start sing the Russian national song. The noise can be heard inside the buildings where the Germans are hiding in shame for losing the war. In the second half of the movie, it starts to slow down after the German woman learns her Russian Major is being transferred and her husband returns to find out that she is now a collabrator with the Red Army. I totally suggest this movie as it is the only movie I have seen that addresses this topic. I give it a strong 4-star rating.
  Rating: 4 / 5
• Victor M. Carrera says:

  March 16, 2010 at 4:58 pm

  Generally a historically accurate portraysl of the “Rape of Berlin” in 1945 by the conquering Soviet army, and the trauma suffered by the civilian inhabitants–a story that needed to be told and which must not be forgotten. However, the film contains a couple of story lines that were obviously added for dramatic effect, and that were not part of the anonymous diarist’s writings. Also, some portions of the book that could (and perhaps should) have been weaved into the film were ignored or just hinted at, and the timeline seems a bit skewed. It therefore is not 100% accurate, but a powerful, well acted film nonetheless.
  Rating: 5 / 5
• Grady Harp says:

  March 16, 2010 at 6:49 pm

  ANONYMA – EINE FRAU IN BERLIN (A Woman In Berlin) is the painfully sensitive title of this exquisite film from writer/director Max Färberböck based on a once occult book by ‘Anonyma’ that has become a recent bestseller in Germany. It has the courage to tell the story of what it was like in Berlin as World War II was ending – the time of the Russian siege of the city just before and just after Hitler committed suicide, ending the horror of the Nazi regime. While many films have been made about the German populace and how they coped with the fall of their ‘great Third Reich’ country that was to rule the planet, few have been able to allow the audience to understand the brutalities of war on the people of Germany in so direct a fashion. It is a film that will haunt the viewer for a long time, a film that will restore some dignity to the German people who lived through it, not being part of Hitler’s madness but being trapped in the ugliness that followed his fall.

  Anonyma (Nina Hoss) is a journalist, a pretty woman living in the cellars and other hiding places while the Russians took over Berlin. She helps her fellow survivors of the bombing of Berlin, struggling for food and protection. The Russian soldiers, still angry with the gnawing hatred for the Germans from the Siege of Leningrad and the loathing of anything that exists in Hitler’s Berlin, drink heavily and seek out the women from hiding to satisfy their insatiable lust. ‘Berlin is a German whorehouse’ and all women, from children to youngsters to elderly fraus are continually raped and beaten as part of the victors’ rage. Anonyma speaks several languages including Russian and decides her only hope for survival is to align with the Commander of the troops, Major Andreij Rybkin (Yevgeni Sidikhin), believing that if she becomes his concubine she will be safe from the random raping by the rest of the soldiers. Their liaisons become more than outlets for the Major and the two gradually bond despite the horrors outside their rendezvous. They survive. Hitler commits suicide and the war is over and the two face the reality of returning to their previous pre-war lives…or can they?

  Nina Hoss is brilliant in this difficult role and though the script allows her little to say, she conveys so much through her expressions that words are nearly unnecessary. Likewise, Yevgeni Sidikhin captures the dichotomy of emotional response his character must display, finding just the right balance between the conquering Russian soldier and the compassionate and vulnerable lover. The cinematography by Benedict Neuenfels captures the devastation not only of the buildings but also of the emotions of both sides of the participating groups and Zbigniew Preisner is responsible for the musical score that adds immeasurably to the drama. This is one of the great German films that took many years of maturing to make. It should be seen. Grady Harp, January 10
  Rating: 5 / 5
• Juozas Malickas says:

  March 16, 2010 at 8:10 pm

  I read the book first on which the movie is based on. It moved me. Last year then I was in Berlin I saw on a local TV station some program about the movie but couldn’t understant so my friend translated to me and the subject got my attention. After I came back to the US – bought the book. And the movie is the way the book discribe the events. Sometimes even it’s too hard to watched it. in any war – the civilians who pay the price and especially women and children. Any war is a bad war – it doesn’t matter how do you name it…”Operation Iraqi Freedom”, “Barbarossa’ or a “fixing” war in Afganistan today….
  Rating: 5 / 5