Germania anno zero (1948)

Second viewing; first was on June 18, 1994.

English title: Germany Year Zero.

Two years after the end of World War II, Berlin is still a destroyed city, and the population is starving. Several families live in the building where this story's characters dwell. The protagonist is Edmund, a boy of 12, who has to help his family increase their income. His older brother does not have a ration card because he did not report to the authorities, for fear of being sent to a prison camp. His father is ill, and so cannot work. His older sister's scruples prevent her from becoming a prostitute or even accepting gifts from men. In his wanderings through the devastated city, Edmund meets all sorts of people; among them is a former school teacher who offers him work for a day, and also exposes his worldview to him.

This melodrama did not please me on my first viewing, mainly, if I remember correctly, because I thought its tragic development was the result of contrivances which stretched suspension of disbelief a little too far. I specifically have a hard time believing in child characters as depicted in most movies, and this used to be one of the more problematic cases. I have changed my mind about it, though, and this has to do with the different set of values I work with nowadays. Although I still appreciate credibility in fiction, I do not consider its absence a fatal flaw. As a work of fiction, Germania anno zero is well made and succeeds in its purpose of producing emotional situations. Its limitations are visible right from the outset, when it states in a caption that "ideologies" should not forsake "Christian" values, a typically unsatisfactory response to the complexities of human life.

Rating: 51 (up from 30)