User Reviews

An interview with a 103 year old woman interspersed with documentary segments from the 1940s is not the sort of thing that would seem gripping. Yet, it is, because she explains and reveals her own understanding through her journey as a young woman. She can compare the world of now and its differences with the world she grew up in: it's rules and insularity, and how that spawned the events which led to war and catastrophe.

In a way this is companion piece to Hanke's 'The White Ribbon', not literally, but in the exposure of a society and time which has no resemblance to anything now in Europe. Hanke's film is fiction and with Pomsel's testimony the audience is drawn to her comprehension of herself as a young person and her life afterwards.

There is a compelling feature to her aged face as she talks, the time etched in her lines, the photography and lighting works excellently here, and fortunately for us, she is lucid and recalls the events and her impressions from over 80 years before.

The use of documentary film from various sources over the same period is well judged, and the editing the entire film coheres extremely well.

This is a great piece of documentary making and the sort of reference people will view in a hundred years to understand what that time was like to live through. And of course, it has its tragedies: the fate of her friend being poignant and terrible.

I was aware of this (though the summary headline is meant to mean something different of course, so no pun intended), but I did not come around watching this until today. This is quite riveting - a personal look back to what happened .. and even more important how it happened.

It is easy to point fingers, to claim "I wouldn't do that" - "I would know" - "I would have handled things differently" ... but as the then 103 year old woman says and remembers: probably no one would have been able to succesfully fight against what was going on. Not that people didn't try to. She talks about them too.

You will have your own view about what she says and how much you want to blame her or anyone from back then who didn't fight back. We can't actually imagine what was happening. As we have seen with experiments (Wave as a book and movie come to mind), people are easy to manipulate. Nowadays it is conspiracy theories that get a lot of attention. A new danger that people get triggered by something that may not even be real.

But back to what this is about: a horrific part of German history. A part that still weighs on the people today. And is being (mis)used to get people on the wrong side of things. Like when it comes to vaccinations. Nazis were against vaccinations and yet people nowadays claim they are being treated like Jews were back in the day ... this is quite infuriating and really insulting to anyone who lived back then - and those who died. But also to the Secretary who opens up here and should be a clear warning sign ... a riveting movie that everyone should watch for multiple reasons.

The interview with her is intercut with footage from back then (films, propaganda and other stuff). Very well edited and really not something that is easy to stomach.