Film Review: Barbara

4 Flares Twitter 3 "> Facebook 1 Google+ 0 "> Pin It Share 0 "> LinkedIn 0 "> StumbleUpon 0 "> Buffer 0 Buffer"> Email -- Email to a friend"> Filament.io -- Filament Ideas to Inventions More Apps"> 4 Flares × About Barbara (2012) Berlin Film Festival and German Oscars regular Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow), returns with a fresh offering of crisp German filmmaking.

It is the summer of 1980 in the German Democratic Republic and, alone, Barbara is confined to living and working as a doctor in a small provincial town – her punishment for attempting to emigrate to the West. She has only one focus; to escape and for this, she has to wait patiently. Until Andre, her supervisor in the hospital, takes her off course. Are his motives of love or duty to the authorities? The day-to-day pretence, and content supervision slowly take their toll as the tension builds.

Starring: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Rainer Bock

Directed by: Christian Petzold

Runtime: 105 minutes

Studio: Soda Pictures

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Review: Barbara

Set in 1980, Christian Petzold’s film focuses on Barbara (Nina Hoss) who has been transferred to a hospital near the Baltic Sea as punishment for requesting to leave East Germany and head for West Germany. At the hospital Barbara works with Dr Andre Reiser (Ronald Zehrfeld) who looks just like Russell Crowe and though she is focused on her work, Barbara has to be on her guard for Stasi officers are watching her. The Stasi have Reiser try and gain information from Barbara but she remains a closed book. Barbara keeps in contact with her lover, Jorg (Mark Waschke), who is in West Germany and manages to come to East Germany to see her. Jorg is plotting Barbara’s escape to West Germany but they have to be careful.

Barbara longs to be free of East Germany but she comes to enjoy working with Dr Reiser though not enough to convince her to stay. In turn, Reiser comes to value Barbara who isn’t afraid to question him and in one instance she refutes his diagnosis of a girl, Stella (Jasna Fritzi Bauer), and is proved correct. Stella becomes key to the storyline as Barbara cares for her and learns she is both pregnant and also longs to be free of East Germany. Can Barbara orchestrate her escape from the country as well or will the Stasi catch up with her and Jorg?

This is a relatively simple story but it is well-directed and delivers some good performances from the leads. Hoss is the star of the show of course, appearing somewhat cold and distant at the outset but by the end she reveals herself to be a woman of warmth, heart and humanity. Zehrfeld does well alongside her but I couldn’t shake the Russell Crowe comparisons even at the end. Perhaps Mr Crowe secretly took time out to film in Germany last year. Though the ending may be somewhat predictable, it is still a memorable conclusion.

Barbara is a very good drama exploring the long-standing division of Germany that would only end with the fall of the Berlin Wall. With a story that isn’t too complicated and some decent performances from the leads this certainly deserves mention as one of the many memorable films to come out of Germany.

Verdict: 4/5

(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)

About the Author:

I was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England and have always been a bookworm and enjoyed creative writing at school. In 1999 I created the Elencheran Chronicles and have been writing ever since. My first novel, Fezariu's Epiphany, was published in May 2011. When not writing I'm a lover of films, games, books and blogging. I now live in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, with my wife, Donna, and our six cats - Kain, Razz, Buggles, Charlie, Bilbo and Frodo.

David M. Brown – who has written 768 posts on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave.

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