A Woman in Berlin 2008

     This film is also titled Anonyma - Eine Frau in Berlin.  It is based on a novel by Marta Hillers.  A nameless woman keeps a diary as the Russians invade Berlin in the spring of 1945 during the closing days of WWII.  She is in her early 30s, a patriotic journalist with international credentials.  Her husband, Gerd is a writer and he is an officer at the Russian front.  She speaks Russian and for a day or two after the invasion, keeps herself safe but then the attacks on women begin.  She resolves to control her fate and invites the attentions of a Russian major, Andreij Rybkin.  He becomes her protector of sorts subject to the pressures from his own fellow soldiers and officers.  Dramas play out in the block of flats where she lives.  Is she an amoral traitor?  She asks, "How do we go on living?" And what will become of her husband Gerd and her diary?
     
     The source novel was virtually banned in West Germany and the writer was anonymous when it was first published in the late 1950s.  Marta Hillers' requested that the publishers delete the name of the author for her safety.  When it was republished in 2003, it became a huge bestseller and nationwide sensation in a reunified Germany.  The writing is about what is going on in Berlin between April 29, 1945 and June 22, 1945.  In the four months that the Soviet army occupied Berlin, the soldiers attacked an estimated 95,000 to 130,000 women.  A Soviet war correspondent reported that soldiers were attacking every German female "between 8 and 80 years old."  This information is horrible and astonishing!!!  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

131 min, Biography directed and written by Max Farberbock with Nina Hoss, Evgeniy, Sidikhin, Irm Hermann, Rudiger Vogler, Ulrike Krumbiegel, Rolf Kanies, Jordis Triebel, Roman Gribkov, Juliane3 Kohler, Samvel Muzhikyan, Aleksandra Kulikova, Viktor Zhalsanov, Oleg Chernov.

Note:  Imdb 7.1* out of 10* with 6046 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Letterboxd 3.3* out of 5*, Metacritic 74 out of 100 with 16 critic reviews 7.1 out of 10 with 7 user scores, Slant Magazine 1 1/2* Ryan Stewart, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 231 reviews.