Rosenstrasse (2004)

Synopsis: Another tragic episode of the Holocaust is brought to light in Margarethe Von Trotta's ROSENSTRASSE. In 1943 Berlin, contrary to the laws that were written on paper, intermixed Jews were cruelly separated from their Aryan husbands and wives without warning, and were placed in a holding cell... Another tragic episode of the Holocaust is brought to light in Margarethe Von Trotta's ROSENSTRASSE. In 1943 Berlin, contrary to the laws that were written on paper, intermixed Jews were cruelly separated from their Aryan husbands and wives without warning, and were placed in a holding cell in the Rosenstrasse district. Von Trotta's film begins in modern-day New York City, at a funeral for the beloved husband of Ruth (Jutta Lampe) and father of Hannah (Maria Schrader). Ruth has always been haunted by her past; though she won't talk about it with her conflicted daughter. It's up to Hannah to travel to Berlin to track down the woman who saved her mother's life during WWII and uncover the truth once and for all. In 1943, Lena (Katja Riemann) was a beautiful pianist who was shunned by her father for falling in love with Fabian Israel Fischer (Martin Feifel). But when Fabian was arrested, she did whatever it took to free him. In the meantime, she took in Ruth (Svea Lohde), an eight-year-old whose mother had also been sequestered. As memories from the past begin to resurface in the present, Hannah starts to understand the bitterness that has tormented her mother for years. Von Trotta's sumptuously photographed, deftly woven film tenderly recounts another somber memory from the all-too-recent past. [More]