Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Rosenstrasse" is a German film from almost 15 years ago written and directed by "Margarethe von Trotta". It runs for an impressive over 2 hours and was written and directed by Margarethe von Trotta. Based on what I have seen from her, I cannot understand why she is really acclaimed as a filmmaker here in Germany these days. Disapppointing and this adjective also applies to this film here. It is the epitome of a Maria Schrader movie. Seemingly emotional, sometimes heartbreaking story, beautiful sets and costumes, but a story that never feel authentic or compelling at all. I may be a bit biased, but I just don't see any acting talent in Schrader and it's a bit of a joke she is still getting lead roles in German films these days. Very limited actress and she is also the biggest weakness of the Golden-Globe nominated "Aimßee & Jaguar".But back to this film here, it tells us the story of a couple women whose men are taken away from them during the days of Nazi Germany. The co-lead is played by Katja Riemann, who is better than Schrader, which is obviously not difficult at all but also not particularly memorable. The worst moment of the film were probably the chanting "We want our men back" scenes from a couple German women. They were clearly intended as moving and significant, but they seemed so amateurish and even cringeworthy. Apart from that, the film is also way too long for its own good with many insignificant scenes. The story it tells offered the possibility of a good film, but von Trotta certainly messed up with the script and the choice of Schrader playing the main character. A movie that is truly pretentious and empty and takes itself way too seriously. I do not recommend watching it. Thumbs down.

lord woodburry Rosenstrasse is a touching story of courage in adversity. Reichdeutch women find that their Jewish Husbands have been locked up pending deportation. One an aristocrat disowned by her family, Lena Fischer, finds herself among the mob as does General Gudarian's sister. But rank and privilege merit no special consideration. Nor does service to the Reich as a female detainee whose husband is on the Ostfront will learn. In one of the most horrifying scenes of the movie, the guards take the wedding band given by her soldier husband. Lest you think this is typical German brutishness we in America today have Lady Bush imperiously ordering the arrest of Gold Star Mothers (mothers of US service-members killed in action) because their very presence is offencive. Little, regrettably, has changed in the 60 years from Der Fuher to Der Fumbler.Fortunately the eight year old daughter Ruth escapes capture.Waiting in the cold on Rosenstrasse Lena Fischer is at first reluctant to take in Ruth responding in a way that we take as typically German. Even Lena Fisher's brother Colonel Arthur von Eschenbach who is aware of and opposed to the Holocost cautions Lena against it. but Lena chooses to embrace the idea with an American rebelliousness even renaming Ruth, the more aryan sounding name Helga Lehmann.The siege ends favourably on Rosenstrasse but Lena mourns: What happened to Ruth after the war? Years later Ruth's daughter Hannah sets out in search of her mother's past and meets 90 year old Lena under the guise of writing a personal history of the war.I did deem it interesting that Hannah wanted so much to look up the family but never checked on the fate of her grandfather last known to have served on the Ostfront.

husey SPOILERS WITHIN.It appears that von Trotta was a lot more at ease with what the balance of personal story versus history of the events than she was in her earlier film Versprechen, Das (1995).The direction seemed carefully controlled, and visually I felt it was highly appealing - especially where the visual narrative was concerned (the title-sequence blend and the lighting of a new candle in modern times commemorating the deaths of various characters in the past).To clarify two points that many people have been confused by:Firstly, Lena did not sleep with Goebbels. Although this may have seemed implied, it was not the intent. Von Trotta told me so herself! (And she is a very nice lady, by the way!)Secondly, the time-frame of events was in fact historically accurate (the actual dates are shown on the close-up of the memorial) and the prisoners were released as suddenly as in the film. There is evidence showing that Goebbels was annoyed about having done this, and had planned to eventually recapture those he had set free.Overall, what most impressed me most was that it was an original story from a much 'over-movied' era. It seems a shame that it has taken such a long time (for various reasons) for this film to hit our screens.More of the same please, Margarethe!

sonosoloio2004 Most of the critics raved about this film from a cinematographic point of view, but missed its major message.The viewing public thought the story line thin and contrived, the characters shallow and undeveloped, but they also missed the major message. The film is a first time public presentation of how a handful of unorganised Aryan women in 1943 held a spontaneous week long vigil outside the Jewish Community Center in Rosenstrasse, in the heart of Berlin, where their Jewish husbands were detained by the Nazis pending transportation to the extermination camps. Their demonstration eventually forced the Nazis to release the men.The film's major message was that the Nazi regime was conscious of public opinion and backed down when resisted on the extermination issue. Whilst the women of Rosenstrasse were the only public demonstration of such resistance inside Nazi Germany, there were 2 notable acts of resistance to the Nazi's "final solution". One was the refusal of Boris, King of Nazi occupied Bulgaria to hand over Bulgaria's 50,000 Jews to the Nazi Murder Machine, claiming that they were too important to the wellbeing of the country, and the other was by King Mohamed V of Morocco who answered the Vichy French demand to deport the 265,000 strong ancient Jewish community by saying "There are no Jews in my country, only Moroccans!"The ladies of Rosenstrasse also showed that the Nazis when challenged backed off - it is said that Goebbels himself ordered the rapid release because he feared that if the story be publicised it would encourage further demonstrations against the extermination program.The film left me with the feeling that if the German people and the leaders of the states of occupied Europe had also protested many of the 6 million Jews and many millions of other minority groups could have been saved from the death camps. It reveals as a lie, the claim that ordinary people could do nothing against the Nazi regime - this for me is the film's most important message.