maria braun get married right in the middle of combat all around her and her husband hermann . an explosion rip through the building and to begin with and and she and hermann have to sign the paper on a pile of rubble on the street . perhaps this may strike some a a heavy hand metaphor for what about to come represent marriage on the rock and so to speak . it a betrothal where the husband go off to war and be hold in a russian prison camp and unbenownst to the helpless but hopeful and proud maria and who keep standing by the depress rubble of the train station a some come home and others do not and with a sign await hermann . trouble arises and a happens in rainer werner fassbinder melodrama and and a it one of his best and most provocative and we see a maria ( uncommonly gorgeous hanna schygulla in this role ) will do a two face represent she will stand by her man and even if it mean work at a bar for american gi and and even still after she hear from a fellow soldier that hermann have die will still stand by him a she sleep with a black gi and come close to bear his child ( that be and naturally and until he reappear and a murder occurs and he take the rap so she can be safe ) and or work for a german businessman ( effectively sympathetic ivan desny ) and become his sometimes mistress and rise star in the company . maria will do whatever it take to be successful and but she will always be marry . it hard to say there anything about maria that isn not fascinating . money and sex and power and all of these become interchangeable for maria . she like the feminist that have her cake and eat it with a sultry smile represent she get to have a husband and more or less ( actually a lot less until the last ten minute of the film ) while obtain thing a man who dot on her whenever he can and a new and expensive house with servant and a secretary and money that others around her aren not get due to already be with a man or too weak in a position to rise anywhere ( such a the secretary and play interestingly enough by fassbinder own mother ) . maria be sexy and confident and and all alone and with an idealized life go against a life that should be make in the shade . she say of the two men the american soldier and poor old and sick oswald that she fond of them and and at the same time will stick by those rose the confused and soul search husband hermann sends from canada and after be release from prison . she cast a profile that a feminist would love to trounce and but understand where she come from and go all the way . fassbinder employ this inherent contradiction and and moment with maria appear to go against the convention of a melodrama ( for example and hermann walking in on the jubilant and half naked maria and gi be just about a masterpiece of a scene and with maria reaction not of surprise or guilt but pure happiness to see that he there let alone alive ) and while stick to his gun a a director of such high mind technique with a storyline that should be predictable . but it isn not really . it like one big metaphor for a country that and after the war and couldn not really move on to normalcy . a few time fassbinder put sound of the radio on in the background and and we see maria walk around her family house and hustle and bustle go on around her and and the radio speaks of a divide germany and of thing still very unsettled and of a disarray . maybe the only way to cope be excess and or maybe that just my interpretation of it . it hard to tell and really and under schygulla stare face and eye and anyway . it such an incredible performance and really and one of those showstopper that capture the glamor and allure of an old time hollywood female star while with the down and dirty ethic of a girl of the street . most tell be the oppose costume one see in one scene when she finally be with her husband and where she star in one of those super lustful black lingerie piece and high heel and and then move on to a dress without even think about it . that almost the essence of what maria be and and schygulla wonderfully get it down and a headstrong but somehow loving figure who be adore and perplex by the men around her and sometimes in a single sentence . this be what fassbinder capture in his wonderful first part of his trilogy while while i might overall prefer veronika voss a a masterpiece and maria braun be perhaps just as good a a character study and of what make a woman tick and tock with ( almost ) nothing to lose .