Rosenstrasse

Taking its title from the Berlin street where, in 1943, Aryan woman staged a protest/vigil on behalf of their detained Jewish husbands, von Trotta’s drama commences in the present day, when Hannah (Schrader) is dismayed by her widowed motherís abrupt post-bereavement adoption of Orthodox Jewish rituals and bitter disapproval of Hannahís engagement to a non-Jew. Hannah begins investigating her mother’s orphaned childhood in Germany, where she was taken in by one of the activist Aryan wives (Riemann). The framing device, which turns the film into a leaden series of flashbacks, is no doubt tacked on for added contemporary ërelevanceí, while the syrupy score, stiff performances, and awkward dialogue only pile on the difficulties suffered by any film that faces the daunting task of reckoning with the Holocaust.