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To begin with the end note: When the anonymous memoir adapted here ('Anonyma - Eine Frau in Berlin') was published in Switzerland in 1959, it was greeted with such outrage among Germans the author allowed no further editions; she of course never revealed her name. Here we are, fifty years later, and the material is still incendiary and hard to get your head around. It concerns events that are unspeakable and incomprehensible.

As played by the strikingly handsome, elegant Nina Hoss, "Anonyma" is an ash blond who can wear odds and ends as if they were couturier fashions, a journalist fluent in French and Russian, at home in Paris and London, who comes back from assignment to be in the Führer's capital for the final victory she still believes in. The Third Reich for her and her pals seems a time of freshness and energy for Germany. The war is just a blip on the horizon soon to be done with. She parties with fellow supporters of the Fatherland's great endeavor who toast the troops and boast that the buffoonish Russians will fall by the wayside. They don't, and when they invade Berlin and begin the wholesale raping of the German women, she chooses to mete out her favors selectively for her own protection and that of her neighbors in the apartment building. This is the story of how that happens.

When Berlin crumbles apartment dwellers are hiding in the basement, like ghosts; then, like condemned men and women given an uneasy reprieve, they return to living in the remnants of apartments. "Anonyma" moves in with a group of others in a large flat and turns over the studio she occupied with her absent soldier boyfriend Gerd (August Diehl), for whom she keeps a diary of what happens, to an unrepentantly Nazi young woman and the adolescent German soldier boyfriend she hides (Sebastian Urzendowsky), who is armed. This unwise gesture is the pistol we know will go off eventually, endangering everybody.

The film shows only two public events: the invasion, and the official German declaration that the Germans have surrendered Berlin. The period in between is the main focus of the diary and the film. It's not specified but it was about three months.

The film focuses on a handful of neighbors, who include ; two lively sisters (Joerdis Triebel, Rosalie Thomass), a strong-willed widow (Irm Hermann); an elderly bookseller (Katharina Blaschke); a liquor dealer (Maria Hartmann); a pair of lesbian lovers (Sandra Hueller, Isabell Gerschke); a refugee girl in hiding (Anne Kanis) and a stolid octogenarian (Erni Mangold). And there are more, not to mention a half dozen clearly defined Russians, including the high ranking officer's Mongolian guard.

It's a bit difficult to keep track of all these, and Woman in Berlin is best at making us feel close to the narrator and conveying a sense of the chaos and uncertainty when the invasion and the raping begin. There seems to be no control. It's hard to see that anything is going on. The Russians are just there, wandering free, and brutalizing the German women. When these women meet the question they ask each other is not whether but "How often?" Anonyma sleeps with various Russians, willingly and not. Protesting the violations and seeking a protective officer she first becomes involved with Anatol (Roman Gribkov), a pretty, frivolous man who turns out to be not a career soldier but a dairyman. He comes and goes and is no real help. She calls him "a gypsy." Then she finds a battalion commander, Major Rybkin (the excellent, charismatic Yevgeni Sidikhin), who is unresponsive when she confronts him boldly in front of a lot of Russian soldiers, and then comes around to find her. Unlike the Germans, she says later in her diary (which we see her constantly scribbling in pencil), the Russians appreciate an educated woman.

A strength of the film is that it alternates naturally between noise and violence, drunken celebration when Russians and Germans fraternize in the big apartment, and "love," which has lost its usual meaning, but lingers on. These extremes never seem overwrought or manipulative. Here's a time when in a film the fact that nothing makes sense, makes sense. The protagonist recognizes that in the eyes of many she is now a whore, but she questions what a whore is.

Marguerite Duras' screenplay for 'Hiroshima Mon Amour' is poetic and overwrought, ut in its rhythmic repetitions it strongly conveys a sense of the aftermath of trauma isn't found in the somewhat overlong 'Woman in Berlin,' which is simply about the confusion of day-to-survival in a world where morality is turned on its head. As Anonyma knew however and as we see in the film, the defeated must capitulate or die, and the invaders have suffered horribly too. One young soldier reconts in Russian, demanding that she translate to all present, how invading Germans brutally slaughtered all the children in his village while he watched. Even Andreij's wife has been killed by the Germans. And the film shows the range of the then Russian people, the Ukrainians, Caucasians, Mongols, who are to be the Soviet Union.

Though reviewers and commentators seem to think they know what all this material means and proclaim judgments if not on the protagonist, on the filmmaker, this is primarily an example of Germans taking hard looks at repressed material that formerly was too ugly to examine. This isn't an impassioned indictment or defense, but a movie that uses an extraordinary diary (only published in Germany in 2003) to present an admirably complex picture of a crazy time. If it is both remarkable in its focus and at times quite old fashioned in its methods, that's as good a way as any to get things across. The result is both specific and wide-reaching, because there's ample time to ponder a basic issue for civilians in wartime: what does it cost you to survive?

War is not a pleasant experience. Those who follow the news know that there have been several of our own soldiers accused and prosecuted for rape and murder in Iraq. In all wars there are local citizens who prostitute themselves to feed their family. It is often hard to make a choice between honor and survival.

This is the story of German women at the end of WWII when the Russians have moved into Germany. They are, of course, raped and abused, as women often are by invading armies. The question then becomes, how best to survive. Anonyma (Nina Hoss) decides the best way is to find the best Russian officer to care for her in exchange for sex.

It is easy to see why the Germans and the Russians hated the book, upon which this film is based, when it came out after the war. They are not shown in a good light. That is no surprise. Soldiers usually do not come from Ivy League universities, but from farms and shops.

Nina Hoss is one of the very few women that can look splendid even in rags.

Oustanding film.

I haven't read the diary, but my father has and after we watched this together, he said that they got everything from the compelling book with its important testimony. This review is based upon the version with a two hour running time and six minutes of credits. After Berlin was taken over by Russian soldiers(among them men who had not had sex for four years) at the end of WW2, and raped 100.000 women, leading to the death of 10.000 of them. When this was first revealed in the late 50's, the truth outraged many in the country. It was called an attack on the virtue of female Germans. Fortunately, it was re-released in 2003, and now this excellent adaptation has hit theaters. There is apparently also a longer cut, and if the standard of this is maintained, it is undoubtedly great and worth it. This is gripping from start to finish. It all comes across as real and authentic(helped by the fact that they speak the three languages they are supposed to), and since this is entirely objective and doesn't take any sides in the conflict, you feel for both groups. The acting performances are spot-on. This has some marvelous little touches and details, and it is historically accurate. The characters are complex and psychologically credible. This is immensely well-produced. The camera-work and editing put you right in the situation when this fits, and is in general expertly done. This has extraordinary lighting. There are a few light portions that keep it from being all sad(without it taking away from how touching and engaging the rest of it is). It is tense and unpleasant when it means to be, albeit it isn't outright depressing. The atmosphere is built up well. There is a bit of moderate sexuality, nudity of both genders, brutal violence and disturbing content in this. The DVD comes with a trailer for this and ones for other films. I recommend this warmly to everyone mature enough for it. What happened should never be forgotten. 8/10

Anonyma - Eine Frau in Berlin – A Woman in Berlin - CATCH IT (B+) A Woman in Berlin (German: Eine Frau in Berlin) is an autobiographical account of the period from 20 April to 22 June 1945 in Berlin (Battle of Berlin). At the author's request, the work was published anonymously for her protection. The book purports to detail the writer's experiences as a rape victim during the Red Army occupation of the city. Two years after her death in 2003 the anonymous author was identified in the Süddeutsche Zeitung by Jens Bisky (a German literary editor) as Marta Hillers. (Wiki) The controversial German movie is about the women who survived the war by working as captivate prostitutes for the Russians. Just like every war all the men were killed and women were tortured and captured by the occupiers. The starting of the movie is really nice as how it shows how people have to go through and live through once Russians won over Germany. The women whose husbands were Nazi were bound to be raped and tortured by the occupiers. The performances by all the German actor and actresses and especially Nina Hoss, August Diehl & Evgeniy Sidikhin are admirable. Because the performances in these hard hitting movies makes you believe the situation. The beginning of the movie really good but the movie falls when they start showing the romance between German woman and the Red Army commander, it slowed down the phase. On the whole, A woman in Berlin is a really nice movie about the aftermaths of the War.

rape is the particular plight of women during war and acknowledged at long last as a war crime.The plight of German women at the end of WW II was especially awful as they had protection from no one. General Eisenhower who punished rape committed by his men with execution outside of Germany (first rape took place six hours after invasion of Normandy had begun)but as for German women all men had free hands as these women were all declared "willing". The Americans are the only ones to have gone through archives as for army rape in WW II however the one recent book existing is not allowed for publishing in the US because of the war in Iraq (!!)so exists in French version only. The French and the British have preferred to turn a blind eye to what was done by their soldiers towards German women let alone the Russians. It is very important that this film has been made at long last. Subject concerns all not just its victims let alone the children born out of the horrors. Bravo Germany.

I watched the movie the same day I fonoshed readind the diary I loved the book so much, the movie wasn't that good, many important events were not captured in the movie Although in cinema you have more factors to attract and affect the audience, but the director messed it, the main important thing for me was Marta's complicated feelings during her journey to survive not the rape scenes, I felt it so much in the book but not in the movie Unfortunately I expected more for one of the most important historical diaries ever in my opinion when you can live the author's life and know how much war costs in your soul.

Although I was aware of the awesomeness of German cinema in the past decades, I was still pleasantly surprised by this film. The title of the movie implies a specific point of view - the plight of a woman trapped in Berlin during the last days of WW2. The movie is however far less black-and-white (metaphorically speaking, of course) than it could have been. It goes beyond a simplistic right/wrong attitude and instead puts the audience in a position to ponder how in a war atrocities escalate and feed on themselves in a typical "chicken and egg" problem. Even the fact that the book on which the movie is based was met with outrage when it was first published in the 50's is ultimately part of this chain.

There are more complex answers to why horrible things happen in a war, and in the world in general - and Europe has had its share of it - and this film manages to capture these complexities masterfully.

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.

ANONYMA - EINE FRAU IN BERLIN (A Woman In Berlin) is the painfully sensitive title of this exquisite film from writer/director Max Färberböck based on a once occult book by 'Anonyma' that has become a recent bestseller in Germany. It has the courage to tell the story of what it was like in Berlin as World War II was ending - the time of the Russian siege of the city just before and just after Hitler committed suicide, ending the horror of the Nazi regime. While many films have been made about the German populace and how they coped with the fall of their 'great Third Reich' country that was to rule the planet, few have been able to allow the audience to understand the brutalities of war on the people of Germany in so direct a fashion. It is a film that will haunt the viewer for a long time, a film that will restore some dignity to the German people who lived through it, not being part of Hitler's madness but being trapped in the ugliness that followed his fall.

Anonyma (Nina Hoss) is a journalist, a pretty woman living in the cellars and other hiding places while the Russians took over Berlin. She helps her fellow survivors of the bombing of Berlin, struggling for food and protection. The Russian soldiers, still angry with the gnawing hatred for the Germans from the Siege of Leningrad and the loathing of anything that exists in Hitler's Berlin, drink heavily and seek out the women from hiding to satisfy their insatiable lust. 'Berlin is a German whorehouse' and all women, from children to youngsters to elderly fraus are continually raped and beaten as part of the victors' rage. Anonyma speaks several languages including Russian and decides her only hope for survival is to align with the Commander of the troops, Major Andreij Rybkin (Yevgeni Sidikhin), believing that if she becomes his concubine she will be safe from the random raping by the rest of the soldiers. Their liaisons become more than outlets for the Major and the two gradually bond despite the horrors outside their rendezvous. They survive. Hitler commits suicide and the war is over and the two face the reality of returning to their previous pre-war lives...or can they?

Nina Hoss is brilliant in this difficult role and though the script allows her little to say, she conveys so much through her expressions that words are nearly unnecessary. Likewise, Yevgeni Sidikhin captures the dichotomy of emotional response his character must display, finding just the right balance between the conquering Russian soldier and the compassionate and vulnerable lover. The cinematography by Benedict Neuenfels captures the devastation not only of the buildings but also of the emotions of both sides of the participating groups and Zbigniew Preisner is responsible for the musical score that adds immeasurably to the drama. This is one of the great German films that took many years of maturing to make. It should be seen.

Grady Harp

Max Färberböck, known to the world-wide audience since his "Aimee and Jaguar", shows in this newer film for once not the standard story of the bad Germans, who, deserving after what they have done, being Nazis, are liberated by the good Russians, the good Americans and the good Allies. It shows exactly the same experience that we all, who grew up in the East Block, had about our Russiand "friends". They came to rape, to destroy, to violate, to erase. It is a very interesting fact concerning mass psychology or perhaps better mass-psychosis that nobody normally speaks about the enormous amount of destruction done or caused by the liberators of end-World War II Europe. And nobody even mentions the Stalinist concentration camps. This is why we need films like "Eine Frau In Berlin".

However, in Färberböcks film, we see the Russians, "like animals, like pigs, an-alphabets, without culture" - as the Russian Major says it in his own words, he, who speaks, according to the main female character "a seldomly high-style Russian". Well, a little bit of "justness" had to be - not ALL Russians are like the "scum" (quotation from the movie) that we see. Interestingly, my Hungarian home-town had been bombed by Americans, but afterward the Russians came like vultures and pitched themselves into the ruins, what was female, was raped, what had been church or synagogue - was emptied and the treasures stolen, a subculture sneaking from the sou-terrain up to the ruins and even profiting from corpses and debris.

A Woman in Berlin (2008)

Imagine the horrors of women caught in a large city during the chaos of war, with occupying troops storming your apartment building day after day. Well, think again. It isn't imaginable. I think even people who live through such things (and we are talking Berlin, 1945 for this movie) the truth is something that is pushed away. Because even watching a movie--a movie!--of these events is unbearable.

Not that the movie is unwatchable. Just the opposite. It's beautifully made, seeming to parallel that other recent German movie about the last days of the Nazi reign, "Downfall," 2004. But unlike that movie, this isn't about political history, or the history of war, or even the dramatization of historical figures as real people. This is a personal story, centering around one woman played by Nina Hoss, and about the repeated rape and abuse of women by the Russian troops for days and weeks on end. There was no escape, no power to complain to, no justice anywhere, anywhere, not German or Russian or even American (assuming they were any better) a mile or two away.

The movie is based on a book, "Anonyma," by a woman whose identity is not revealed, if it is even known (this was her protection even after death). The movie suffers now and then from a sameness, a steady pounding, beginning to end. The parade of horrors is continuous even as relationships develop and the first wave of anarchistic occupiers shifts to more entrenched troops and some general partying. You do cling to some semblance of progression, or of events to stand out from the others, but it's mostly about horribleness.

But maybe that's the way it should be. It was an endless nightmare on every level, even if you (they, these women) survive. In some ways, the end of the war is more believably insane here than in "Downfall" even though they are in many ways comparable movies, comparable moments. Such an array or gritty, believable acting and sets you won't find often. And thankfully, even the sentimental aspects are handled without swelling music and other cinematic tricks found too often this side of the Atlantic.

One last point, whatever you think of the Germans and WWII, here is yet another kind of national acknowledgment and, for many, soul-searching. This is a German film. The Russians don't come off great, for sure, but the Germans are clearly at fault, and are shown that way, and shown as responsible for even greater crimes. There's no glossing over any of it. Watch this movie. It won't be fun, but it'll be stirring and important.

In 1959,a book was published in Switzerland,entitled 'Anonyma:Eine Frau In Berlin',about a woman who had lived through the liberation of Berlin by the Red Army,in 1945,just mere months before Adolf Hitler committed suicide. This book shocked those who had read it,also resulting in it being immediately banned in Germany (although it was eventually published there many years later). In 2008,German film maker,Max Farberbock adapted this eye opening novel into a new film from the original novel by the author (Anonyma). The film stars the lovely to look at,Nina Foss as Anonyma,who's husband is seen shipping out for the elite S.S. squad of the German Army the very morning of the Soviet invasion of Berlin in 1945. For the next three months,she,as well as the rest of the residents of Berlin are subjected to brutal treatment of their captors. Determined to survive this nightmare,she forges a relationship with the Russian leader, Major Andrei Rybkin (played by Yevgeni Sidikhin,who commands a genuine presence here),as well as a renegade member of the German army,that is hiding in the attic of the apartment block she lives in. The rest of the cast is made up of both German & Russian actors who truly live up to their roles (and watch out for a winning performance by Irm Hermann, generally known for her work in the films of the late Rainer Werner Fassbinder,as Witke).Comparisons to Paul Verhoeven's 'Black Book' will be obvious. Benedict Neuenfels' camera work,which gives this film it's grainy,grim look & Ewa J.Lund's tight editing is right on track This grim,gritty film is yet,another winning entry from Constantin Film Produktion,who gave us the likes of 'Last Exit to Brooklyn',and the recent,'Der Bader Meinhof Komplex'. The film is a bit long in the tooth,but there isn't a slack moment in it's 131 minute running time. Spoken in German & Russian with English subtitles. Not rated by the MPAA,this film contains rough language, violence,flashes of nudity & sexual content,including several unpleasant rape scenes

What, Germany was invaded by Russian troops during the last few months of World War II, and the men were beaten, the women were raped and everyone had their property stolen by these shameless Ruskies? It's true... you learn something new everyday. Some might be tempted to say the Germans were getting a taste of their own medicine... until you realise not EVERYONE voted for Hitler or believed in his ideals, so why should they suffer? I guess 1939-1945 really was the most difficult era to live in ever, regardless of what nationality you were.

Into this mix arrives a German journalist who came home to witness the final days of the fighting... and ends up slap, bang in the middle of the upheaval. A virtual prisoner in her own house, and regularly abused by ugly Russian troops, she nevertheless attracts the attention of the local Soviet battalion leader. They start a romantic relationship, which is complicated by their different beliefs and stations in life. This whole production is a true story based on a book written by the reporter in 1960, who due to the outrage and being called a 'traitor', has remained anonymous to this day.

Alas, watching creepy, unattractive men forcibly getting into the knickers of innocent ladies is not very pleasant viewing, and for too long the focus lingers on the tiresome activities of these abusers. When the central pairing eventually get together, it feels more at the behest of the writer than any other tangible reason, and he fails to flesh out why these two opposites would ever get together in reality. Which of course they did... so what did they miss from the novel, which didn't translate to the screen? I don't know.

All I can tell you is after over two hours of long-drawn-out drama, I'm ready to vow that this'll be the last war film I watch this year, after seeing 3 in a row. So, horror and comedy for the next fortnight it is, then... 5/10

A wonderful movie, well directed and very well acted (main characters, especially Anonyma, played by Nina Hoss, and the Russian major, played by Evgeny Sidikhin, were simply superb). I loved that the Russian and German characters are colored as human and not in simple black and white. It is very unfortunate that this film did not get more attention and a wider distribution! I was lucky enough to see it last year at the Toronto Film Festival. As a holder of a Ph.D. in history I was immediately intrigued: I knew about the events depicted in the film and I was concerned about how such brutal rapes would be shown but the director handled it perfectly, emphasizing that rape is more about violence and terror than about sex. The enquiring mind, the emotional understatement, and the moral complexity of this film got unfortunately overlooked by the Academy, possibly because of the "take-no-side" approach to its subject matter. I recommend this movie highly to anyone with interest in history, women's issues, and cinematics. At the same time, it is not for viewers who cannot handle the human reality in its darkest form.

In the rubble of Berlin in April, 1945, there are women, children and old men clustered together in a bomb shelter as Red Army soldiers and tanks mop up resistance street by street. From a woman's diary anonymously published nine years after the events, come lucid and raw details of survival amid extreme devastation, pervasive sexual violence, and soldiers bent upon revenge for the evils they suffered. "If the Russians do just a fraction of what we did to them in the past four years," writes a woman in Berlin "every German will be dead." There are repeated rapes, day and night. "Every feeling is dead," she writes. Many people commit suicide. Others vow to survive whatever way they can; encouraging each other, finding protectors and treasuring the light where it can be found.

Not only does A Woman in Berlin provide insight into the brutality of war from a woman's perspective who is at the epicenter of it, the film is alluring from all the other aspects that go into filmmaking Nina Hoss, who plays the main character, is fantastic and her award winning performance here provides a well deserved jolt to her career. It is profoundly eye-opening and mind bending to try to comprehend this aspect of war. The subject is left out of textbooks, it is taboo to bring it up, and women are shunned - as the author of this diary was - just for bringing it up. Fortunately there are good people in unexpected places, as the main character finds, who are kind hearted. One of my favorite films.

It seems that WWII has produced an almost unlimited number of stories. Even over sixty years later there continue to be major productions coming out, e.g. "Inglorious Basterds," "Valkyrie," "Letters from Iwo Jima," and "Flags of Our Fathers." Now, "A Woman from Berlin" can be added to the list.

This is a story based on the diary of a woman living in Berlin at the time of its downfall in late April and early May of 1945 when the Red Army moved in for the final assault. In the West we tend to think that the UK and the US won the war, but this movie makes you consider that perhaps the Soviet Union played the more decisive role.

I found the story told here very believable. It provokes some complex reactions. The Red Army is presented as not being overly gentlemanly in victory. But, after losing over 25 million dead in the war, it is hard to blame the Soviets for being a little more than peeved and participating in the spoils of war. Unfortunately, as depicted here, much of their revenge is taken out on German women.

The central character, who is called "Anonyma," decides that it would be in her best survival interests if she were to attach herself to the highest ranking army officer she could find. This turns out to be Major Rybkin who is seen to be a decent sort of man. The evolving relationship between Rybkin and Anonyma, and its consequences, forms the core of the story.

At first one is tempted to feel sorry for the Germans, but then you think of the horrors the Germans perpetrated, particularly on the Soviets, and you feel guilty for your compassion. The fact that Anonyma is presented at the beginning of the movie as being an intelligent journalist who is toasting the German conquests complicates your feelings for her. In the end I was just left with an overwhelming sense of the tragedy this war spawned. So many dead, so many lives changed forever.

The production values are high--this was no minor undertaking. I was impressed with Nina Hoss who plays Anonyma, and Evgeniy Sidikhin as Major Rybkin is good as well. In fact the entire cast is excellent.

The movie prompted me to do some reading on the Battle of Berlin (even in some printed books!). A lot of the written descriptions are fairly dry, which makes you appreciate a film like this that provides a backdrop for trying to understand what happened. I think that any movie that compels you to do a little research can't be bad.