Film: Anonyma: The Downfall Of Berlin
Release date: 1st March 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 131 mins
Director: Max Farberbock
Starring: Nina Hoss, Yevgeni Sidikhin, Irm Hermann
Genre: War/Drama
Studio: Metrodome
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Germany
Anonyma: The Downfall Of Berlin uncovers a shameful period in history many people would rather forget. In fact, so extreme has been the unwillingness to acknowledge these events that when a diary was first published in its native German in 1959, documenting what happened, it was met with such public outrage that it was withdrawn from publication by its author. The public claimed it was a defamatory smear on the character of the virtuous women of Germany and demanded its recall. It was, and the author continued to withhold the publication rights as long as she lived, which is why that only recently - following her death - that the story of ‘Anonyma’ (Anonymous) has been allowed to be told (and transferred to the big screen).
In 1945, in the last grim chapter of the Second World War, the Russian army have swept through Europe and occupied Berlin. Exhausted from a long, gruelling war, and frustrated at their orders to stay put and secure Berlin rather than to advance, the Russian soldiers camp out amongst the rubble of the city.
Bored and idle, and spurred on by drink and the indifference of their commanding officers, the Russian troops take out their frustrations on the women of Berlin - left behind by their husbands who are fighting oversees for the glory of the Führer. The women are treated as sex slaves, callously and repeatedly raped by the Russian soldiers until the abuse becomes such an everyday occurrence that the women greet each other by asking simply, “How often?”...
Anonyma presents a story of the war from a truly original angle. Here our heroine (we never learn her name), who we’re required to identify with and root for, is an active, loyal member of the Nazi party. The first image we see is of her stoically sending her brave husband off to war to further the noble cause of the Reich. The abuses which Anonyma and others like her suffer at the hands of the Red Army are horrific and unjust, but we’re reminded throughout the film that they are no worse than the atrocities committed by the German army on similarly innocent civilians overseas. It’s hard work rooting for a leading character who we feel intrinsically to be guilty, one who we’ve been told all our lives has indirectly the blood of millions on her hands. It’s a credit to director Max Färberböck that these difficult issues are never presented in black-and-white, and it’s a fascinating experience to have our own moral viewpoints tested and re-tested throughout the film.
The cinematography capturing the broken streets and haggard faces is beautiful, poetic at times, and full of magical moments and imagery, which deftly handle the exposition without a word being spoken. For example, when establishing the war torn streets of Berlin, Anonyma sees a wild dog roaming the streets, and the two come face to face for a few seconds, their eyes locked. We see in that frame that she and the dog are at this point utterly the same; the once proud women of the Fatherland have by this war been reduced to feral creatures, animalistic, scavenging the streets of their own city to stay alive.
Given all these good points, it’s a shame that Anonyma fails to really engage, and for a film which prides itself in its realism, too often the characters feel convenient rather than authentic. The stereotypical drunken Russian, for example, who features en masse is certainly unpleasant, but a little too cartoon-like and broadly drawn to truly believe.
It may seem like a strange criticism, but for a subject matter which is so deeply shocking, I came away feeling as if I hadn’t been shocked enough. Färberböck’s handling of the violence and rape come across as uncertain, as if he’s unsure just how much to show us. Often it’s left to flashes of kicking legs being dragged behind walls and glimpses of thrashing bodies behind wooden boards, and our imagination is left to fill in the blanks. I’m not suggesting Anonyma should have been more voyeuristic, but the reality of the brutality that occurred in this appalling period in history should not be shied away from, and deserves to be presented raw and unflinching.
A brave and important, if imperfect recounting of a shameful period in history, which should never have been allowed to be swept under the carpet. Anonyma examines the war from a previously unseen angle, and through it questions our attitudes towards the war, towards good and evil, and towards the nature of men in inhuman circumstances. Above all a story of survival, no matter what the cost, which - as any worthwhile film should - leaves us full of questions. LB
With special thanks to the No.6 in Portsmouth who allowed Loz to attend a screening of this film for subtitled. no6cinema.co.uk
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