Anonyma - Eine Frau in Berlin (A Woman in Berlin) (2008)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Cynthia S

  
  What a well done movie! This is a side of war that I never realized existed. I really do love movies based around Nazi Germany, and I am finding that there are many more that I havent seen via the foreign film genre.

• Rico Z

  
  With the recent success of The Reade, the notion of a German woman receiving empathy from an audience is kind of the hot issue. Especially if that German woman is portrayed to be, or have been, a Nazi sympathizer. Well, enter A Woman in Berlin. In this real-life story (inspired by… More
  With the recent success of The Reade, the notion of a German woman receiving empathy from an audience is kind of the hot issue. Especially if that German woman is portrayed to be, or have been, a Nazi sympathizer. Well, enter A Woman in Berlin. In this real-life story (inspired by the anonymous writings of a journalist woman who lived in the conquered city of Belin during the final stages of the war,) is a true work of art and storytelling. It's inspired and striking all at once. No screenwriter, however clever or prominent, could have ever been able to come up with a story so divisive and emotionally manipulative. No, only real life could have concocted such a miserably cold and true depiction of event rarely portrayed in film. Our anonymous woman takes us on a journey through her world, and the world of those remaining in Berlin during the end of Hitler's Germany. In essence, we see that the remaining civilians (comprised primarily of seniors, young children and the so-called "weaker" sex) were victimized brutally by the invading (or should it read: liberating) forces of the Red Army (Russia.) Furthermore, it is with brilliant efficacy that our anonymous writer conveys that is was these women who were the remaining soldier's on the front lines of Germany's scarred urban battlefields. We meet our protagonist in an era before the height of war. We meet her in a time in history where we may presume her to be a sympathizer of hate and prejudice. She is vibrant and idealistic about the future of her country, blindly subscribing to manipulative ideas and philosophies that were shrouded in a blanket of national pride. Flash forward to a time where misery prevails and the tables are turned. Many themes are evident in this film and is reveals and unravels itself slowly, yet efficiently -- like the speed at which a woman sheepishly undresses for her male predator moments before her body's inevitable ravaging. Obviously, the plight of women is magnificently portrayed in this film. More specifically: the dismal day-to-day living of the German women who were to be punished for the wrong-doings of their country's leaders, none of whom they'd ever met. Defenseless and battered, the women must fend for themselves as their remaining men find themselves spirited away to Siberia or worse for the crimes that their father have committed. It is with great success that other shades are painted around what is considered to be right and wrong in times of war. The are a myriad moral subtexts to be gathered. Namely, who is the liberator and what does liberating mean? How do you avoid succumbing to the thirst with which revenge nags? What lines must be crossed or avoided in order to keep yourself from becoming the very essence of the hate you've hoped to extinguish? Ultimately, as we learn from our anonymous heroine, such judgments are irrelevant when your only goal in life is to remain attached to life itself. Your perception of the world and its concepts can never remain in your mind unscathed or unblemished. That way of seeing the world will always be altered and affected by the events that transpire in it. Therefore, the way you love; the way you fight; the way you live will never be the same again.

• William D

  
  "A Woman in Berlin," written and directed by Max Farberbock and starring the great Nina Hoss, is a treasure. Most immediately it is about the epidemic of rape that the women of Berlin suffered at the hands of the invading Soviet Army in 1945. But it also opens up to become… More
  "A Woman in Berlin," written and directed by Max Farberbock and starring the great Nina Hoss, is a treasure. Most immediately it is about the epidemic of rape that the women of Berlin suffered at the hands of the invading Soviet Army in 1945. But it also opens up to become an infinitely complex meditation on warfare and the unique feelings of excitement and dread that accompany the downfall of one world and its replacement by another. It also nobly tries to reckon with the particular rivalry and comradeship that for centuries has marked the collisions of German-speaking and Russian-speaking Europeans. Bravo to Herr Farberbock, an artist of singular courage. --unfinished--

• Walter M

  
  Based on a controversial memoir, "A Woman in Berlin" is a harrowing piece of history that is rarely discussed. Its only serious drawback is the inclusion of a love triangle or two which uncomfortably pushes the movie into soap opera territory. "A Woman in… More
  Based on a controversial memoir, "A Woman in Berlin" is a harrowing piece of history that is rarely discussed. Its only serious drawback is the inclusion of a love triangle or two which uncomfortably pushes the movie into soap opera territory. "A Woman in Berlin" starts on April 26, 1945 as Soviet troops are advancing through a Berlin populated mostly by women and old men who are nervous at the possibility of the advancing troops seeking revenge for Nazi atrocities. One Soviet unit is frustrated by not being allowed to advance to the Reichstag and start out by holding a block party in the streets while awaiting further orders. Things quickly turn bad for the citizens when raids are made into the apartment buildings to rape the women.(One of the scariest moments in the film involves a quiet conversation about syphilis around the dinner table.) Inside of one is a journalist(Nina Hoss) who has lived in London, Paris and Moscow and drawn back by patriotism to her native Berlin while her husband Gerd(August Diehl) is serving in the army. Her Russian is good enough to communicate and she is knowledgeable enough to recognize rank to find Andrei(Yevgeni Sidikhin), a major, to cut a deal for protection but he refuses to help. So, she works her way down the food chain to Anatol(Roman Gribkov), a lieutenant, who comes and goes as he pleases. To her, this is not rape, maybe prostitution. However, it is still rape, even without the violence, because she has no choice not to have sex. Whatever the case, the women have nothing to be ashamed of. It is the men who do.

• Daisy M

  
  Eine Frau in Berlin was the story of diary found many years later of an anonymous woman who wrote her life during the end of WWII and the Soviet invasion in Berlin in 1945. During this time she and some residents of Berlin were brutally treated by the Russians. To survive this… More
  Eine Frau in Berlin was the story of diary found many years later of an anonymous woman who wrote her life during the end of WWII and the Soviet invasion in Berlin in 1945. During this time she and some residents of Berlin were brutally treated by the Russians. To survive this nightmare,she entered a relationship with the Russian leader.The leading role was perfectly performed by German actress Nina Hoss and the rest of the cast was German & Russian actors who really lived up to their roles. This true story gave an interesting sight of WWII specially how these women lived within a world in which they were raped daily by the soldiers.