After her husband passes away, Ruth Weinstein (Jutte Lampe) begins to act strangely. Her daughter Hannah (Maria Schrader) feels this being caused by Ruth’s grief, but in reality, suppressed thoughts from World War II are surfacing and Ruth is haunted with the memories.
A mysterious woman, about Ruth’s age shows up as the family sits shiva in Ruth’s NYC apartment. This is her cousin Rachael (Carola Regnier) who urges Ruth to break the silence she has held for so many years.
After Ruth had been rescued from the holocaust as a child, she’d come alone to the United States to be raised by Rachael’s family. She’d fallen into silence about the incidents that most affected her life and now drove her to become a devout Jew.
Hannah journeys to Berlin to find 90-year-old Lena Fischer (Doris Schade) who had taken in eight-year-old Ruth (Svea Lohde). As a young Aryan woman, Lena (Katja Tiemann) stood watch at the synagogue on Rosenstrasse hoping for the release of her Jewish husband Fabian (Martin Feifel) and other Jewish spouses of Aryans who were being held by the Nazis in the temple. Young Ruth’s mother was also being detained there.
Directed by Margarethe von Trotta.
Mostly subtitled.
Run time: 2 hours, 16 minutes
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, some violence, and brief drug content.
My personal rating: B+
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