berlin bear in 1942 margarethe von trotta be an actress and now she be a very important director and writer . she have be describe and perhaps even unfairly caricature and a a director whose commitment to bring a woman sensibility to the screen outweigh her artistic strength . rosenstrasse and which have garner mixed and even strange review ( the new york time article be one of the most negatively aggressive review i have ever read in that paper ) be not a perfect film . it be a fine movie and a testament to a rare coalescing of successful opposition to the genocidal nazi regime by and of all people and generically powerless german demonstrate in a berlin street . co writer von trotta use the actual rosenstrasse incident in the context of a young woman search for information about her mother never disclose life a a child in the german capital during world war ii . the husband of ruth weinstein ( jutta lampe ) have die and in a surprising reversion to an orthodox jewish lifestyle apparently hitherto in long abeyance and ruth not only sit shivah ( the jew week long mourn ritual ) but she insist on follow the strict proscription of her faith . her apartment in new york city reflect the affluence secure by her deceased spouse labor . her american born daughter and hannah ( maria schrader ) and her brother be a bit put off by mom assumption of restrictive orthodox jewish practice but they pitch in . the mother coldly reject the presence of hannah fiance and a non jew name luis ( fedja van huet ) . a domestic crisis might well erupt a ruth warn that she will disown hannah if she doesn not give up dot and handsome luis . stay tune . a cousin arrive to pay her respect and also drop clue to an interested hannah about a wartime mystery about mom childhood in berlin . hannah be intrigue she query her mom who resolutely refuse to discuss that part of her life . this be very and very realistic . i grow up with parent who flee nazi germany just in time and i know many child whose family and in whole but usually in part and escape the holocaust . those day be simply not discuss . so hannah and have learn that a german gentile woman save ruth life and traipse off to berlin hop to find the savior still breathe . be she not and this would have be a very short film . but ruth and pretend to be a historian and locate 90 year old lena fischer ( doris schade ) and now a widow . a the happy to be interview but shake up by repressed memory lena tell her story and the scene shift fairly seamlessly between present day berlin and the war time capital . the young lena of 1943 ( katja riemann ) be a fine pianist marry to a jewish violinist and fabian fischer ( martin feifel ) . with the advent of the nazi regime he be require to use israel a a middle name just a jewish woman have to add sarah to their name ( incidentally i wish imdb have not give fabian name on it character list with the false israel include it simply perpetuate a name apply by nazi a a mark of classification and degradation ) . while germany deport most of it jewish population to concentration camp and those marry to aryan be exempt . for a time . until 1943 when the regime decide to take them too ( most be men while a minority be jewish woman marry to non jew ) . the roundup be show here in all it frightening intensity . the young lena try to locate her husband . all she and many other woman know be that theyre confine in a building on rosenstrasse . the crowd of anxious woman build up and some piteously seek help from german officer who predictably refuse aid and also verbally abuse them ( jew love whore be one appellation ) . a a subplot lena more or less adopts eight year old ruth who hide when her mother be seize ( remember and ruth be now sit shiva in manhattan ) . the child ruth be fetchingly portray by svea lohde . through increasingly angry protestation the woman finally prevail . the men and and a handful of woman and be release . a in the real story the nazi give in and one of the rare and almost unprecedented time when the madman acknowledge defeat in their homicidal agenda ( another be the termination of the euthanasia campaign to rid the reich of mental defectives and chronic invalid but that another story ) . von trotta build up the tension and each woman story be both personal and universal . hannah continue to prod the age lena who slowly and one gather and begin to suspect she not deal with an ordinary historian but rather someone with a need to learn about the girl she rescue and the child whose mother be murder . the contrast between rosenstrasse of 1943 and a set and and the street today in a bustling and rebuilt and unified berlin provide a recur thematic element . today berlin bear the heritage but not the scar of a monstrous past . von trotta make that point very well . the main actor be uniformly impressive . lena husband while strong be also show a totally helpless in the snare of confinement with a likely outlook of deportation ( which be show to have be clearly understand by all character include the local police and military a a one way trip to oblivion ) . the old ruth be catalytically force to confront demon long suppress in her happy new york life . hannah be very believable a a young woman whose father death trigger a need to discover her family past . these thing happen ( although the time critic appear not to know that ) . von trotta hand be sure but not perfect . a scene with goebbels at a soiree enjoy lena violin playing be unnecessary and distractive . the suggestion that she may have go to bed with the propaganda minister and the most fanatical top level hitler worshiper and to save her husband detracts from the wondrous accomplishment of the demonstrating spouse and relative . most of the german officer come from central casting and be mold by the erich von stroheim copy and paste school of teutonic nastiness . but that understandable . the rosenstrasse story have be the subject of book and article and some claim it a paradigm case for argue that many more jew could have be save have more german protest . unfortunately that argument be nonsense . the german woman who occupy rosenstrasse be deeply and understandably self interested . most german be locate on a line somewhere between passive and virulent anti semitism . thats why the rosenstrasse protest be virtually singular . whether one buy or reject the goldenhagen thesis that most german be willing accomplice of the actual murderer it just can not be deny that pre nazi endemic anti semitism erupt into a virulent strain from 1933 on . the elderly lena remark that what be accomplish by the woman be a ray of light in an evil time . most of the men and woman spring from a near death trip survive the war . so a ray of light it be and von trotta movie be a beacon of illumination show that some be save by the courage of largely ordinary woman and for every life save an occasion for celebration exists . and always will . positive .