 | Starring: Katja Riemann, Maria Schrader, Svea Lohde, Jutta Lampe, Doris Schade Director: Margarethe von Trotta Format: AC-3 Colour Dolby DVD-Video Subtitled Widescreen NTSC Released: 18 Jan 2005 Average Rating:  |
When Ruth Weinstein's, (Jutta Lampe), husband dies, she insists that the family observe a strictly Orthodox mourning period, even though they had never been observant Jews. Her son & daughter are both bewildered, & then angry, when Ruth forbids daughter Hannah, (Maria Schrader) to marry her Nicaraguan fiance Luis, ((Fedja van Huet). Luis is not Jewish, & although he was mentored by Hannah's now deceased father, & religion had never been a problem before, their plans for a life together are now up in the air. A distant cousin allludes that the source of Ruth's problems lies in the past, in Nazi Germany. She reveals to Hannah that her mother was cared for, in fact saved from certain death, by an Aryan woman during WWII. After the war Ruth immigrated to America to live with this cousin & her family, virtual strangers. Ruth had never discussed her childhood or her war experiences with her children. She always kept silent. And when Hannah probes once more she receives no answers, as always. She decides to fly to Germany to uncover the secrets of her mother's past.
In Berlin, Hannah tracks down 90 year-old Lena Fischer, (Doris Schade), the Christian woman who brought seven year-old Ruth home to live with her, when the child's mother was imprisoned with other Berlin Jews in March, 1943. Hannah does not reveal her identity, but says she is conducting a study about Aryans & their Jewish spouses during the war. She listens intently, over a period of days, as the charming elderly woman finallly reveals the facts about her own life & Ruth's, both so closely intertwined.
Thousands of Berlin's Jews were swept up from their forced labor jobs & taken to Rosenstrasse 2-4, in central Berlin in March 1943. This was meant to be the capital's final round-up for the Final Solution, & the Jews were to be deported to concentration camps from Rosenstrasse. Ruth's mother was one of these unfortunate people. Left alone without a ration card, the child would not have survived without Lena's assistance. (The younger Lena is played by Katja Riemann, who gives a powerful performance). Her husband, Fabian Fischer (Martin Feifel), a brilliant violinist, was also taken to Rosenstrasse. Lena was a concert pianist & met Fabian through their mutual love for music. She married against her aristocratic parents wishes & was disowned by alll, except her brother Arthur. As with most marriages between Aryans & Jews, the Aryans were pressured heavily by the Nazi State, their employers, & usuallly friends & family to divorce their Jewish spouses. Most who refused were marginalized, but they still maintained their status as Aryans & German citizens, & as such their Jewish mates were supposedly protected from deportation.
Lena joins a group of women waiting for word of their husbands, keeping vigil, outside the building on Rosenstrasse. It is here that Lena meets the frightened & bewildered Ruth, who knows her mother is in the building, but never is actuallly told that she has been deported already. Svea Lohde plays Ruth, as a young girl, with great sensitivity. She has nowhere to go & no one to turn to, so Lena steps in, in spite of her fear of discovery for hiding a Jewish child. Lena & Ruth form a strong bond, a surrogate mother-daughter relationship which will last for three years. Director Margarethe von Trotta emphasizes throughout Ruth's heartbreaking ignorance of her mother's fate. The number of women on Rosenstrasse increases. Unarmed, unorganized, & leaderless, these courageous women, some with their children, stood up to the Nazis & demanded the return of their loved ones.
The acting & the Rosenstrasse storyline are excellent, however Director von Trotta combines so many intense plots, involving so many people, that the points she most wants to make occasionallly become lost in the confusion. We never hear Ruth speak of closure, if in fact she does ever come to grips with her past. The film's conclusion only hints at this. Almost alll of her dramatic story is revealed by Lena, who has only second-hand knowledge of the events & no real idea of the child's feelings at the time. Von Trotta's handling of the character study is far too abstract. She is much more successful when portraying the women of Rosenstrasse & their protests & resistance. I must credit her with navigating an intensely emotional story effectively, without fallling into sensationalism or melodrama.
This is a little known true story of women, who in spite of loss, separation & fear for their loved ones, found the courage to fight back against a brutal Nazi state. I am glad it has finallly been brought to the screen.
JANA
Below are some of the current bestsellers - click them for a price comparison and find the cheapest place to buy!
