Forbidden

A true story of almost documentary character telling the terrible story of some of those Berliners who refused to leave the city in the war in spite of all the odds against their survival if they stayed. It's the story of a countess studying to become a vet who gets involved with the son of the first Jew who became a judge in Germany, a veteran of the first world war, so the son was brought up to be a German, not a Jew, but of course that meant nothing to the Nazi government and the Gestapo, and things really started to look grim when the war broke out on the precise day when the countess enrolled in the university. She is played by Jacqueline Bisset who is always a success when it comes to roles of great integrity, and this performance is a virtuoso piece in all its simple and straightforward honesty. The man is played by Jürgen Prochnow, who is a good match for her, although she has to keep him out of her underground involvements, which he of course finds difficult. His mother (Irene Worth), with whom he stays at first, also refuses to leave Berlin and is later brought to Theresienstadt. The title of the book on which the film is based is "The Last Jews of Berlin" which tells exactly what it is all about. There are many authentic documentary cuts illustrating the ordeal and destruction of Berlin and the Berliners, so the film coudln't be more convincing. It is a gripping tale and the more gripping and important for being all true.