Anonyma - Eine Frau in Berlin (2008)

Director:

Max Färberböck

Writers:

Anonyma (book)
Max Färberböck (writer)

Release Date:

23 October 2008 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

World War II ends and her story begins...

Plot:

A woman tries to survive the invasion of Berlin by the Soviet troops during the last days of World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Invasion | Marauder | Based On Diary | Russian Abroad | Post War

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Nina Hoss	...	Anonyma
Yevgeni Sidikhin	...	Major Andreij Rybkin
Irm Hermann	...	Witwe
Rüdiger Vogler	...	Eckhart
Ulrike Krumbiegel	...	Ilse Hoch
Rolf Kanies	...	Friedrich Hoch
Jördis Triebel	...	Bärbel Malthaus
Roman Gribkov	...	Anatol
Juliane Köhler	...	Elke
Samvel Muzhikyan	...	Andropov
Viktor Zhalsanov	...	Mongole
Aleksandra Kulikova	...	Masha
Oleg Chernov	...	Erster Vergewaltiger
Anne Kanis	...	Flüchtlingsmädchen
August Diehl	...	Gerd

Also Known As:

A Woman in Berlin (International: English title)
Kobieta w Berlinie (Poland)

Runtime:

USA:131 min | Canada:131 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Germany | Poland

Language:

German | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:12 | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Cologne, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company:

Constantin Film Produktion

Trivia:

The autobiographical book, of the same name, and film, is based on the diary of its author, Anonyma (meaning "unnamed author"), which is set between the dates of 29th April 1945 to 22nd June 1945.

Movie captures complexities of war

Although I was aware of the awesomeness of German cinema in the past decades, I was still pleasantly surprised by this film. The title of the movie implies a specific point of view - the plight of a woman trapped in Berlin during the last days of WW2. The movie is however far less black-and-white (metaphorically speaking, of course) than it could have been. It goes beyond a simplistic right/wrong attitude and instead puts the audience in a position to ponder how in a war atrocities escalate and feed on themselves in a typical "chicken and egg" problem. Even the fact that the book on which the movie is based was met with outrage when it was first published in the 50's is ultimately part of this chain.

There are more complex answers to why horrible things happen in a war, and in the world in general - and Europe has had its share of it - and this film manages to capture these complexities masterfully.