The Nasty Girl (1990)
"Das schreckliche Mädchen" (original title)

When a young woman investigates her town's Nazi past, the community turns against her.

Director:

Michael Verhoeven

Writer:

Michael Verhoeven

Stars:

Lena Stolze, Hans-Reinhard Müller, Monika Baumgartner

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 11 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lena Stolze	...	Sonja
Hans-Reinhard Müller	...	Juckenack
Monika Baumgartner	...	Sonja's mother
Elisabeth Bertram	...	Sonja's grandma
Michael Gahr	...	Paul Rosenberger
Robert Giggenbach	...	Martin
Fred Stillkrauth	...	Sonja's uncle
Barbara Gallauner	...	Miss Juckenack
Udo Thomer	...	Archivist Schulz
Ludwig Wühr	...	Owner of the Swingboat
Christof Wackernagel	...	Zöpfel
Richard Süßmeier	...	The Mayor
Sandra White	...	Iris
Rudolf Klaffenböck	...	The judge
Karin Thaler	...	Nina

Storyline

Sonya is a German high school student who decides to write an essay about her town's history during the Third Reich and its resistance to it. To her dismay, and more so the town's, she uncovers instead definite collaboration during the period. As she digs deeper, she must struggle against the town's vocal and violent opposition to her search for the truth.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi | bra less | historical revisionism | film with ambiguous title | firebomb | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

March 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Nasty Girl

Filming Locations:

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Gross:

$2,281,569 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmverlag der Autoren, Sentana Filmproduktion, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Sonja: You have to know where things come from to know where they're going.

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Rocky V/Child's Play 2/Home Alone/The Nasty Girl (1990)

User Reviews

Dark vision of social blindness

The thrust of the movie, as I saw it, was the propensity of a society, any society, to conveniently 'forget' the details of its involvement with nefarious deeds carried out in its name. Much as the vast majority of American westerns tend to gloss over the true level of barbarism we so-called civilized members of society visited upon the 'heathen' Indians, the German town in question conveniently 'forgot' its level of involvement with the atrocities of the Nazi regime. Mädchen's true 'sin' was of revisiting the Nazi era and detailing the involvement of many of the town's leading lights with that regime and its atrocities.

In toto, this film asks disturbing questions about society (any society) and its willingness to justify or simply forget 'inconvenient' truths and realities.