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Film: "Rosenstrasse" - Fri., May 16, 2008
"Rosenstrasse" (2003, Germany/Netherlands, directed by Margarethe von Trotta, 136 min.) Refreshments are served at 7:30 p.m., the film begins at 8 p.m. Donations are appreciated. The series is hosted by the United Nations Association of Davis. An unusual, and until recently little-known, act of courage that took place 63 years ago in Berlin presents the focus for this drama about Aryan women married to Jewish men who staged a nine-day (ultimately successful) protest against the SS and police to win the release of their husbands before deportation.
The film opens in modern-day New York where Hannah (Maria Schrader)
is puzzled by her recently widowed mother’s behavior that includes
sudden disapproval of her impending marriage to a non-Jew. Hannah
travels to Berlin where she tracks down 90-year-old Lena Fischer (Doris
Schade) and with her help unravels the tale of her mother’s past.
One part of the story deals with the early forties when Lena (Katja
Riemann) married a Jewish musician (Martin Feifel), thereby being
disowned by her aristocratic father who supports the Nazis. Lena meets
Hannah’s mother as a child during the Rosenstrasse protest and ends up
raising her as her own. The other part shows the impact of all
the previously unknown history of her mother’s life on Hannah. As
one critic wrote: “Many adult children of taciturn parents will relate
to Hannah’s determination to know more about her mother than her mother
is willing to impart.” Also with Jutte Lampe, Jürgen Vogel, Fedja
van Huet, Carola Regnier and Svea Lohde. (#243)