Customer Reviews

Marriage of Maria Braun [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Without a doubt this is Fassbinder's best film. Many of his others are too whacked or just have poor acting and plot, but with this one he was on target. This movie provides a shattering view of what it was like for a woman in post war Germany. Often we have seen movies that show what it was like in occupied europe during or after the war, but few movies have provided what the German civilian experience was like.

Fassbinder provides his usual chaotic and striking images, which can sometimes be a little odd and weird, but work well here. From the nutty marriage in the beginning to the final tragic end, this movie provides a tour-de-force of what the ruin and devastation of the war was like for Germany and its people.

Hanna Schygulla is an impressive and sexy actress! Her forward style combined with her good looks makes for a fascinating combination. She lights up every scene in this movie. There are some controversial moments in this film, which considering that it was done in the 1970s are pretty avant-garde. Interracial activities may be considered standard now in US movies, but 30 years ago this was very much a taboo subject. While this only comprises a small segment of the film, we can see that Fassbinder loved to deal with this kind of forbidden fruit.

There is probably a lot of German cinematic technique that I am glossing over, which a film student would go ape over. I see the movie as a social-historical epic and thus my perspective is different. On many different levels this movie has interest, but I think its portrayal of the human cost of the Second World War on the German pysche is the most revealing. Even though a people may survive a devastating conflict, the emotional scars can linger for generations. Germany is still not a complete country pyschologically today because of the legacy of Hitler and the war, even with recent unification. Hence what appears on the surface to be Germany's almost bizarre aversion toward any kind of war today, even if justified. Those who have seen holocaust films like "Schlinder's List" should compare this film to see the other side of the coin (If they can). It might certainly prove educational. You won't see this kind of movie being made in Hollywood, ever!

An utterly shattering experience, unlike anything you have ever seen before. Fassbinder was a master of the cinematic medium, creating vibrant characters, brilliant dialogue and unforgettable images. Incredible in every way, with Hanna Schygulla in one of her best performances.If you truly love great cinema, you must see this film.

This film consolidated in all the world to Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Even he had a huge number of avid viewers who knew about him by other titles. This picture became the First German Film really commercial all over the world. Hanna Schygulla shone as a real Super Nova with this complex , intelligent and crude tale.

Fassbinder interweaved a web which linked almost fifteen years of live story through the eyes of a loyal woman whom suddenly after she marries, his husband is requested to participate in the War. From that day she will wait for him, day after day until she decides to make a breakthrough with the life when the hunger and the misery slowly will surround her whole family.

The rest of the story runs for you. Magnificent script, an anthological ending who still is shocking. Indeed this was film of the famous Trilogy with Lola and Veronika Voss.

The sudden death of Fassbinder in 1982, left the German Cinema literally orphan and his place still keeps empty.

The marriage that only elapsed a day and all night long.

"The Marriage of Maria Braun" is an interesting movie that gives the audience a look at the other side of WWII in Europe. I'm not about to make any case for sympathy towards the German side in that war but people are people and the civilians and returning soldiers had an enormous challenge to rebuild their lives, their families, and their country. We get a sense of this by watching the post-war life of a woman who had married in the midst of an air raid and only had a day-long honeymoon. As she waited for her husband to come home from the war, she finds the need to make adjustments. The movie is about those adjustments and I don't think it would be fair to elaborate because I had no hint of what was to come next and that helped me appreciate the movie all the more. Let's just say that Maria Braun reminded me a lot of Scarlet O'Hara.

I thought that "The Marriage of Maria Braun" was a very good movie because of how well I felt it brought out its' message of survival and its' consequences. I was satisfied that I had gotten the director's intended message but then I saw this sequence between what seemed to be the proper end and the cast and credits. What was that all about? I milled it over and wondered whether or not the director, Rainer Fassbinder, was trying to make a statement about the division of Germany. I could understand how one character's success and materialism represents West Germany. It's alliance with the West was enriching but may have involved compromising aspects of it's self-respect. Another character's imprisonment represented the confinement and lack of freedom of East Germany. I wonder if the point was to suggest that, after such a long seperation, the potential reunion was going to be difficult. If the ending throws you off, don't worry, the previous two hours says enough.

Definetly one of my favorite movies. If you are into good movies non-Hollywood-Style, this is a movie for you. At times, it feels like you are watching a theatre show, not a movie. And that can be a good thing.

You have got to be kidding. This film is a waste of time unless you like to view softcore porn of the interracial flavor. Sure, she wants to be successful, but why is it important to show all the sick details? To get the "full emotional impact"? So you can really feel what she went through? The psuedo-intellectual (this review makes no claim at intellectual) arguments and reviews simply don't hold water. What is this film trying to say? It simply tries to show what one woman went through during and after the war in her attempts to become propsperous while"waiting for her love". What a load of crap. While "waiting for her love", whom she hears is dead, she engages in love affairs, in which she simply claims to have detatched emotion from...well...er...motion...Again, what a load of crap. She is simply trying to make herself look good, and trying to lose herself by giving in to every (so-called) "guilty pleasure" she can to avoid feeling or experiencing what is really going on around her. This movie is a waste of time, and I would place it in the same category as a Clint Eastwood film for its gratuitous and unnecessary "love" scenes.