iuditapretty My rating is 5 out of 10. Why? Just because of the fact that it wasn't made properly. A lot of scenes that don't make any sense and are just useless from my perspective. The movie doesn't bring you the atmosphere of the situation this woman where put in. It just revolves into the fact that women where raped and it doesn't show besides that. Also, a lot of boring and long scenes to just fill up the time.

Chunyi Hsu I have not seen a better film portraying civilian women in WWII. The daily sturggle between reality, morality and idealogy. Men on the other side pour their rage and revenge upon them. Men on their side cannot understand what they have undergone and cannot forgive what they have done. The women of Berlin had no one but themselves. Some chose to fight and die, and some, like the protagonist, chose to survive and kept her hope for the eventual reunion with her husband. As she described, Russian men appreciated well-educated women, while German men were the opposite. The supposed savage and animal whom she chose as protector turned out to be something quite different, and he gave everything to save her, even wanted to take her with him after the war. This reality clashed with the long and endless waiting of her husband. The 30-minute promise was long overdue and she had to make a choice. Yet again, fate chose for her. The commander was taken away by NKVD for what he did to save her, and the returning husband was not the person she was waiting for anymore- bitter, broken, and alienated.The woman at first was terrified and angered by the barbaric behaviours of the Red Army. As time passes, she began to understand their pain and realised the Germans also committed horrific atrocities against civilians. Her blind patriotism was unsettled by the accounts of the enemy, the feeling of betrayal by her own government, and worst of all, her own fellow German men, who left them defenseless. This was the beginning of post-war Germany- the rise of sexual equality and limited government authority.

richard6 Adopted from an anonymous writers experience during the last major offensive in Europe, A Woman In Berlin recounts a daily record of one woman's indefinite life during this bloody battle and eventual Soviet occupation. In the interest of self-preservation her memoirs explain how she sort autonomous protection, food and succour from two occupying army officers. The story focuses on various woman, as well as children and de-listed men. Their lives traumatised through warfare, fear of occupying army, lack of food and water and absence of missing loved-ones. More notably, the fear of violation. The first quarter of the film efficaciously makes visible the terrifying situation the residents found themselves in. Also, where the film succeeds is in illustrating the fate of women in war through the horrendous acts shown, and not shown. However, it is the emotional desolation that the film does not fully grasp. Yet, films adopted from novels generally do. The relationship between the anonymous writer and the officers becomes something like an Hollywood romance towards the end. Although, the combination of fear, extreme aversion and romance in times of trauma are without the absence of existence, it would have been highly unlikely in these circumstances. In addition, the novel is not romantic, it is an act of survival. Therefore, the horror and self-delusion of the situation could have been conveyed more practically.Mainly, "A Woman In Berlin" solicits the audience to question the morality of woman who have no protectors. The film does not attempt to set apart good and evil. The Red Army is not impersonated as evil. The Germans are not presented as good. The soldiers do not conceal their intentions.The woman do not conceal their horrific ordeal. Although, for many years afterwards concealing their ordeal became a standard based prohibited subject in Germany. Moreover, any mention of the barbaric actions of the Red Army was meet with hostility in the Soviet Union. At the time of publication in the late 1950's, the book was proscribed as untrue and unacceptable by certain nations. More surprisingly, even today, coincided with the theatrical realise, "A Woman In Berlin" still is proscribed as fiction by certain people.It has to realised, as the film makes known, the army and population of the ruined city mixed and collaborated willingly as well as unwillingly. in areas which the Soviets had captured and before the fighting in the centre of the city had stopped, the Soviet authorities took measures to start restoring essential services. Although, at the same time, the film does not let the audience forget the soldiers casual violation of people and property without fear of inflicting any punishment. History estimates 2 million woman were brutalised during the Red Armies advance through Eastern Europe and Germany. When caught in the middle of a war, everybody has their own story to tell. I had read the book some years prior to viewing the film. I will state anybody wanting to view "Woman In Berlin" should do this first and then read the novel. This way, the novel enumerates like a testimony of your observations. I concluded that the rape of German women was not a unique feature of this battle, but a condition of the atrocity of war generally. This film can not tell every woman's shuddering experience during the battle of Berlin. Perhaps more controversially, the choices each made to survive. This film is from the diary of one woman's experience in a ruined Berlin.

Ati I had already submitted a review of this movie earlier, but as it may have seemed misleading for some people I thought I should rephrase it.First of all I'd like to congratulate to Glock22 for his review (The Germans are pathetic, 25 February 2011), who summarized the problematic parts within the movie very well. This movie comes 2nd on the self blame list of Germans: the 1st one is Stalingrad in case you are wondering. The main problem with the movie is that it's actually a quasi love story - instead of a war drama - between a German woman and a Russian major. It's something that was quite unlikely to have happened if not impossible at all. So instead of the facts it shows us an example that probably never happened (I know the movie is based on a diary but it sill doesn't make it authentic). At the beginning, the movie focuses on the rape itself, because that's what happened when the Soviet Army occupied a town or settlement – a gang rape, that lasted for several days until they left the area. Then of course a new wave of soldiers came and the whole process started all over again. There were also lootings and murders, which aren't really emphasized in the movie. The movie fails to mention that several thousands of women died during the rapes in horrendous ways (their back broken, beaten or tortured death), and also children were involved amongst the victims – sometimes not above the age of 9. It wasn't a rare example when the mother and the daughter were raped at the same time by these "soldiers".To me, the scenes where German women are joking about how many soldiers had raped them seemed very unnatural, morbid and improper. I can't really imagine anyone could be making fun about this. The scene where they celebrate and dance together with the Soviet soldiers provoked similar feelings. The reason why I found these unnatural is maybe because in Hungary - where the same things happened as in Germany and Austria - the women who were raped often committed suicide after they had been raped, because of shame, self blame and moral issues. In those years for a woman to sleep with a man who wasn't her husband, meant terrible shame (not to mention that rape could hardly be called "sleeping"). Sadly, in Hungary there are people also who still call the Soviets "liberators" and never think of the hundreds of thousands of women who were raped, humiliated and sometimes killed.What the movie shows well is when the Soviet officers show no concern when they hear about the rape cases. Usually they said it helped the soldiers to "cool off", to let out the steam. Now that's true. Question is: who is going to give compensation to these people (and to those who have been taken to Siberia to work in labour camps – if a woman was really unlucky she was robbed, raped and then taken to a labour camp where she died)? Seemingly everyone has forgotten about them.If you are looking for true facts, historically accurate emotions and situations from the invaded Germany from the end of WW II, then avoid this movie. Instead go and read a book about it from a Hungarian author, Alaine Polcz – who had also "experienced" the liberation: A Wartime Memoir (Asszony a Fronton – in Hungarian). There's another movie that deals with the topic and is much more authentic (therefore much more disturbing): Joy Division (2006).Only if you do not care about true historical facts and would like to see an unlikely story taking place in Berlin at the end of WW II, should you watch this movie.