Deutschland, bleiche Mutter

Hans and Lene marry at the end of the summer of 1939, shortly afterwards he is drafted and she becomes a mother. Alone, she and her newborn daughter have to fight their way through the turmoil of war, at the end of which Hans returns, but the couple's ideas about life no longer fit together ... Helma Sanders-Brahms' very personal examination of her mother's story was received negatively at its premiere at the 1980 Berlinale and was therefore shortened for cinema release. The film, which over time has found its place in the canon of film history, has only been available again in its original form for a few years.