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A disturbing memoir of rape and conquest.

Nina Hoss and Yevgeni Sidikhin in "A Woman in Berlin"

Photo: Strand Releasing

Rape is one of the oldest horrors of war. Movies rarely deal with it in any depth; but now comes "A Woman in Berlin," a German film that takes wartime rape — and associated gray areas of resistance and "collaboration" — as its subject. The film asks an agonizing question: In a situation in which women become spoils of war, to be raped and beaten and spit upon at the enemy's whim, what are their options?

The movie begins on April 26, 1945. The end of the War in Europe is less than two weeks away. Soviet forces are on the outskirts of Berlin, the bomb-battered German capital, where Adolph Hitler, locked away in his bunker, is in raving denial. (Four days later he'll commit suicide.) When the Soviets break through and take part of the city,...

Let's hear it for Nina Hoss. The German ac tress impressed with her work in "Yella" and "Jerichow," both of which received releases here.

Now Hoss is back with another fine performance, in "A Woman in Berlin," written and directed by Max Faberbock.

This time she's a 30-year-old woman, known only as Anonyma, living in Berlin as the Red Army conquers it in 1945.

The Nazi troops may be out of the way, but the women of Berlin aren't

necessarily celebrating. The Russians have decided any female they come upon is fair game,...

• You know you've been doing something right if you've been a light weight NY-based distributor in the biz for two decades now. Strand Releasing has commenced the Berlin Film Festival in style, grabbing a Tiff title, well-selling Euro war drama feature from the same helmer that gave us Aimée & Jaguar a decade back. Max Färberböck's A Woman in Berlin will receive a release sometime this summer. Set in 1945 during the Red Army invasion of Berlin, “Woman” follows Anonyma (Nina Hoss), a victim of rape and abuse who had been a journalist and photographer. In her desperation, she tries to get Russian officer Andrej (Evgeny Sidikhin) to protect her, an encounter that develops into a complex relationship that forces them to remain enemies. For a more deft exploration of the film, Cameron Bailey has got a great rundown on the Tiff page for the film. ...

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