Frieda

This film was made in 1947 when this country was just coming to terms with the fact that it would have to live with the new Germany.The film does not take into account the fact that there were already thousands of German refugees in this country who had fled Nazi persecution.For example in the film industry there were actors such as Conrad Veidt and technicians such as Mutz Greenbaum.Therefore what only seems to have been considered by this film are bad Germans,as played by Albert Levien and the passive German as played by Swede,Mai Zetterling.So what is ignored are the millions of Germans who did oppose Hitler,the social democrats and communists who were thrown in concentration camps.I felt that Levien's revelation as a nasty Nazi was rather over dramatic and rather spoiled the balance of the film.I also wonder what audiences of the time would have made of the newsreel of Belsen concentration camp shown when the couple are in the cinema.very thought provoking.

This is an amazing psychological drama about a German girl being brought out of the war by an Englishman who eventually marries her, creating great controversy in his small native town, as his elder sister (Flora Robson) is a leading local politician. She is ardently against all things German, consistently denouncing all Germans just because they are Germans, and her case is perhaps the most interesting one in the film , how it develops, and how she finally gets the last word: "You can never treat any human beings as less than human without becoming less than human yourself." It could have been said by Plato. David Farrar is outstanding as usual as the soldier who refuses to give up Frieda, and Man Zetterling, who herself lived in Germany during a period of her life, is absolutely convincing and outstanding in acting this very sensitive part. I was deeply impressed by the depth of the script and the actors' perfect rendering of it in bringing it more than alive, and although the scenery is rather the same all through with no great practical drama, the inner drama is the more vivid, intensive and spiritually dramatic. This was yet another ace among the productions of Basil Dearden.

1947 was not an easy year. In fact, the British and the world was still recovering from World War II. This film probably raised a lot of eyebrows and concern. Germany was still the enemy and Frieda played beautifully by Swedish newcomer, Mai Zetterling, should have been honored with nominations for her performance. Frieda is not well liked because she is German so you're not going to trust a German girl in the first place. Anyway, I imagine how it was first released to the British public after a brutal war and the rebuilding of the damage done by the blitz. Anyway, I can imagine audience members not being welcoming to Frieda but she is somebody we grow to understand. It's not her fault that's she's German anymore that I'm an American. She grows on you because she is somebody we can like but I think that's part of the problem. We see her only flaw as being German and not much else. Anyway, Mai Zetterling performs well and should have been honored with a nomination or two for being the star of the film.

Phew, that was a tough watch.. Not the production, Frieda is well made, but makes us all face up to our own prejudice and fear. I have no idea how this must have felt to the audience in 1947, I am sure many struggled to sympathise with Frieda, the enemy.

Today hatred is still rife, we live in a world that is still drawing dividing lines, for what.. where has it got us. Frieda tries to make us examine irrational fears and blind hatred. The film pushes us to see people as individuals.

I often look back at old cinema as a little simple, corny even, it is not often I sit in silence at the end and contemplate what I have seen, Frieda made me do this.

Should you watch this, yes if you like cinema that takes you somewhere and you like to empathise with tough subject matter. It is not an arty film and is extremely watchable.. But if you need whizzbangs and CGI this might not be the film for you.

All I can say to finish, I am glad I finally sat down to watch Frieda.

Though one of the reviewer has mentioned it to be dated, but is it really ? The racial prejudice - though used destructively by Nazis, existed during and even earlier, not only there, but elsewhere too- the Camping of Japanese (and the use of Vermin for them were a proof of it), even those who were citizens for generations, in USA, the treatment of Gypsies, the fate of the indigenous tribes every where - Maories, Amerindians, Dark-skinned persons,... and it continues even today. The people are still considered equal - or inferior - based on the skin and race. So one really can't call it dated. The mind-set of Nell is very common even today, and the others - are accessory, by compliance/ silence.

In the story, the heroine (Frieda's) parents were killed in allied bombing - and that well could have been by her love's brother, Alan, who was shot down while bombing the city. But that part of sympathy was missing - that of course isn't by error - may be even deliberate - the psychology of people to overlook the loss of "Others" even when that had been caused directly by "Us". The movie is about the girl, who has sacrificed everything to protect the man she loved (who didn't, at least initially), and her travails - in enemy domain, where she is racially prejudiced by all, and even the circumstances force her man to turn against her - forcing her to opt for divorce Italian (or catholic) style.

There was only one weakness in the narrative - Frieda's brother - his attitude was not normal. He was totally brainwashed Nazi, on that aspect I don't have complain, but he definitely can't make his innocent sister (that too, the only one left in the family) a sacrifice at the alter, and that too through false implications. In fact any brother, however ideologically blinded he might be, he would try to shield his kid sibling. The attitude of all others were explainable. Robert batted for Frieda - till he got irrefutable proof of her complicity - from her own brother. Nell was blindly prejudiced. The widowed sister in law, Judy wanted him for herself, and that was actively supported by all the family. Who, though not so much racially prejudiced as Nell, still were to quite some extent, probably due to the human losses suffered in the family - Robert and his step-brother were the only surviving - I wonder what happened to his step-father though.

Despite the semi-melodramatic presentation, it is worth a watch, to look at our own contemporary society, and reflect, aren't we all still in those ages and mind-set ? Aren't we still saying, as the woman remonstrated at registration office against "Giving out rations to a German girl" and "Soon we would be feeding the whole nation" .