Rosenstrasse (2003/2004) (AKA The Women
of Rosenstrasse)
The German are an odd people. Their
stoic and unemotional appearance seems quite cold
and inhuman to Americans at times. This seeming callousness
appears even more inexplicable when attached to what
should be an emotional and gut-wrenching film like
"Rosenstrasse." But in the hands of German actor turned
director Margarethe von Trotta, the events that unfold
here, involving Aryan women married to incarcerated
Jews in WWII, seem surprisingly distant and detached
to the audience.
Perhaps it is because von Trotta
decides to tell her story not just as a incident unfolding
in the 1940's but also as an ancillary flashback to
a story unfolding in present day New York. Like many
films before it, this one uses the device of someone
researching their family history by talking to an
older person to expose a period piece. Before long
we are getting long chunks of flashback here.
This story revolves around the titular
"Rosenstrasse," a place (I am unsure if it is a building,
a street or an area of town) where Jews were kept
inside Germany during the latter days of WWII. In
the story we see here, Jewish men who are married
to Aryan women are rounded up at the factories where
they are forced to work and taken to be held here.
Based on a true incident, the women here meet outside
the building where their husbands are being held and
wait for their release or even news of their existence.
They even face down Nazis with guns and refuse to
give up their vigil.
But the film is so distanced and
so cold that it becomes a bit difficult to care about
what is going on here. Characters are introduced and
we struggle to understand how they relate to the story.
And it's a long story. At two and a half hours, the
film takes its time telling both plots here, the modern
one and the flashback.
But, in fact, the story never bores
us and the time passes quickly. It just seems odd
to watch a film with a story so invested in triggering
our emotions and not shed one tear. Then again, perhaps
this is appropriate. The women here are strong, stoic,
and German. It doesn't seem in their nature to become
emotional or distraught. It is this same unemotional
fortitude, this perceived coldness, that allows them
to watch and wait for their men, almost symbolically
fighting the Nazis who seem to share their bitter
determination, and eventually win their return. In
many ways, this is a film about the unfading resolve
of both the Jews and the Germans.
Notes:
In German with subtitles and a bit
of English.
With Maria Schrader.
The film has been nominated for
several awards and won a few.
Premiered at The Toronto Film Festival
in September 2003. The German debut was in October
2003 and the U.S. arthouse run began in August 2004.
