[BARBARA
screens Friday March 1st at 9:30 pm, Saturday March 2nd at 7:05 pm,
and Sunday March 3rd at 4:00 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review
by Bob Ignizio
In
BARBARA,
a skilled East German doctor of the same name (Nina Hoss) finds her
once promising career more or less finished when she asks to leave
the country to be with her West German boyfriend. As punishment, she
gets sent to a small town hospital with few resources and plenty of
spying eyes making sure she tows the party line. Among those meant to
keep Barbara in check is her supervisor at the hospital, André
(Ronald Zehrfeld). André's heart isn't really in enforcing the will
of the state, though, especially once he meets Barbara and begins to
have feelings for her.
For her part, Barbara immediately realizes that André is one of her
minders, and although she comes to respect him as a physician, she
certainly doesn't trust him, never mind return his feelings. She
still carries a flame for her West German, who sneaks over the border
for fevered trysts in the woods and a hotel. They don't seem to have
much in common beyond the sexual, but Barbara nonetheless plans to
escape to the west to be with him. However, as she begins to realize
that André isn't the simple government stooge he first appeared to
be and that there are others in greater need of escape than she is,
Barbara is faced with a difficult choice.
BARBARA
is a tightly plotted and directed romantic drama that puts
traditional notions of freedom to the test. It seems on the surface
that Barbara would be better off in the West than under totalitarian
rule, but ultimately we're not so sure. Nina Hoss does an incredible
job in the title role, creating a character who at first is frankly
not very likable, and in fact seems more than a bit selfish, while
Zehrfeld for his part does a good job of channeling a young Donal
Logue as the unlikely love interest who won't give up. But BARBARA
is never as simple as “will they or won't they”, entwining its
potential romance with cold war paranoia, medical drama, and small
acts of heroism.
Christian Petzold directs the film in a subdued manner. His shots are
carefully composed, yet still have some of the rough hewn feel of
more documentary style filmmakers like the Dardenne brothers. There
is no musical score, but contrary to what was said at this year's
Oscar's, the film most definitely does not “just lie there.”
It's very much alive, and even without a musical cue telling you how
to feel every few minutes, it's a safe bet the emotions will come
through loud and clear. 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.
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