芭芭拉

在树林里，西德男友问芭芭拉，你还需要什么，我帮你弄到。芭芭拉笑着摇摇头，吻了他。

在宾馆，西德男友说：过去了之后，你就不需要再工作了，我挣得足够多了。

安德烈一直尊重芭芭拉的意见，为了和她通行，也找了一辆自行车。

安德烈要芭芭拉做手术的麻醉师，芭芭拉犹豫了，因为当晚她要逃出东德。安德烈问她，你想做么？她思考后给了肯定的答案。

安德烈为他做饭。问芭芭拉喜欢做饭么？芭芭拉摇了摇头。

如果芭芭拉去了西德，她就只是家庭主妇，是别人的附庸。

留在东德，她可以继续做医生，并且有一个尊重她的爱人。

无论东德西德，一个女人，一个人，希望得到的是尊重和爱。

匆忙写的，没有edit,，有语法问题或拼写错误请见谅。 The Legend of Rita (German title: die Stille nach dem Schuss) is a German film, released in 2000, directed by Volker Schlöndorff. The film tells the story of Rita Vogt, a member of the extreme left-wing terrorist group, Red Army Faktion (RAF). She is responsible for bank robbery, breaking into a prison to rescue her partner and killing a policeman when she is in exile in France. She then finds her place in East German, where she is provided with a new identity by the Stasi. Rita decides to stay in East Germany although her partners decide to leave because she believes East Germany is the country where her political ideal is fulfilled. Barbara was released in 2012, directed by Christian Petzold. In the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in 2012, where Christian Petzold was awarded the Silver Bear for the Best Director. The protagonist, Barbara Wolff, is a doctor who used to work at The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the oldest and most prominent hospital in East Berlin. She is transferred, in fact, demoted, to a clinic in a small village in Northern East Germany and makes the Stasi watch list, because she expressed her wish to go to the West. In the village, she meets Andre, a doctor at the clinic she works at. He is supposed to watch Barbara and report her activities to the Stasi agent in the village. Also, she meets Stella, a girl who was detained at the Torgau Juvenile Workhouse for an unknown reason, Barbara’s former patient, for whom Barbara sacrifices her opportunity to run away to the West. The Legend of Rita and Barbara are both post-reunification German films about the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) and they both attempt to challenge the conventional west-centric discourse of the memory of the GDR in media with different approaches. East Germany is also stereotypically presented as simply Stasiland, with no freedom of speech, failed political system, economically and socially backward. Even though Schlöndorff tried to avoid the conventional West-triumph-over-east narrative, the Legend of Rita still taps into many East German stereotypes. On the other hand, Barbara reconstructs a more realistic GDR in colour and presents a more complex set of characters in the former socialist state. The Stasi is commonly seen as the dominant ruling power over the East German people. The East German people are simply seen as the victims of the state apparatus. The most well-known film about former East Germany is the Lives of Others, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The film won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It also had won numerous awards elsewhere, including Deutscher Filmpreis for the best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best supporting actor. The Lives of the Others sets paradigm of the public discourse of the former GDR. It is so successful because the film reconstructs former East Germany as a dark oppressive country in which people have no freedom of speech. The streets seem dark and grey. Donnersmarck uses an extra-diegetic soundtrack frequently to create the oppressive and unpleasant environment of GDR and guide the thought of the audience further into seeing the GDR as the oppressive force over the population. The Lives of the Others harshly criticize the former East German socialist regime and clearly demonstrate the simplistic binary of the state as the perpetrator and the free-loving people as the victim. Additionally, the narrative of the Lives of the Others exudes optimism towards the reunification in 1989. (Cooke 2011) The end of the socialist regime marks the liberation of people, including the artists. Dreyman’s new play featuring an African-German actress marks progress in anti-racism. The Lives of the Others emphasizes the Stasi as the powerful tool of the state machine overseeing and controlling the people all the time. Their networks are ubiquitous in East German society and the people do not have any chance to resist. Every step taken in East Germany is observed by the Stasi. If anyone shows any signs of faithlessness to the state, he or she will be punished immediately. The Stasi is the ruthless and effective enforcer of the will of the state (Moeller and Lellis 2012). The Legend of Rita and Barbara tackles the popular negative discourse of GDR history not by denying the brutality of the Stasi but by highlighting not only the oppression of the state apparatus but also the revolutionary political ideal and a place where love is possible in spite of the state oppression (Pinfold 2014). Although, West Germany is presented as the Promised Land in the Lives of the Others, Rita and Barbara, eventually willingly surrender their opportunity to live in West Germany. West German society is not at the centre of the stage in either the Legend of Rita or Barbara, however, both films allude to some facts of West German society. In the Legend of Rita, Rita’s first of three stories take place in West Germany and in Barbara, the interaction between East and West can be seen through Barbara’s West German boyfriend and his business partner. Barbara’s boyfriend, Jörg, is a businessman from West Germany, who frequently travels across the border with his business partner. He and his partner come into East Germany with their Mercedes, nice suits and ties, which distinguish them from the local East Germans, who drive Trabis and have to wait for years after they order it. He comes to the East to visit Barbara twice in the film. During the first visit, when Barbara and her boyfriend are meeting in the wood, the business partner of her boyfriend, Gerhard has a conversation with a local East German. The local man shows curiosity about the Mercedes and that indicates the lack of variety and poor quality of East German cars. Later when Barbara’s boyfriend returns to the car, Gerhard imitates the East German in a sarcastic voice: “is that a Mercedes, how much do they cost, how long did you have to wait, we waited eight years for ours and that wasn’t bad” and ask Barbara’s boyfriend: “was is it at least worth it?” This scene shows that the West German feel they are superior to the East because of the economic development. In spite of its poor performance and quality, the Trabant, produced by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Zwickau, Saxony, is a distinctive symbol of the extinct former GDR. Various models of Trabants in different colours are collected in a Trabi museum in Berlin 25 metres away from Checkpoint Charlie. In Dresden, people today can experience relive the life of a former East German by driving a Trabant themselves. The Trabant is indeed the people’s car in East Germany. The Trabant incorporate more cultural and political nuance in the Legend of Rita in the context of Ostalgie. Rita spends the last of her West Deutschmark on a Trabant as part of her integration process into East German society. The second rendezvous between Barbara and her boyfriend took place in a hotel. Barbara sneaks into the hotel room from the window, where they stay and discuss their future. In the hotel room, they hear exaggerated sex noise from Gerhard’s room. Her boy explains that Gerhard has met a girl, Steffi, and he said he loves her. Barbara points out the nature of their relationship immediately: “Because she can’t follow him.” She meets Steffi when her boyfriend and Gerhard go out to attend a meeting in the restaurant. She says to Barbara: Steffi: “If he marries me, do you think they’ll let me leave?” Barbara: “I don’t think so.” Steffi: “Do you know your stuff about this?” Conversation implies that Steffi is unaware of the nature of her relationship with Gerhard. Gerhard used presents in exchange for sex with Steffi. To Barbara, the romantic connection does not exist between Steffi and Gerhard. The relationship between them is simply a trade between sexual intercourse and presents. Yet, Gerhard is not completely honest in this relationship. He claims that he loves Steffi and that makes Steffi dream about one day Gerhard will marry her and take her out of the GDR. It is unlikely he genuinely falls for an East German girl because he talks about the East with contempt when Jörg comes back from his meeting with Barbara in the wood recently. Steffi is amazed by the variety of jewelry in the catalogue, which is unavailable in East Germany at that time. Thus, Gerhard, a businessman from the West, has the chance to exploit the gullibility of the young East German girl and the lack of variety of goods in East Germany. During Barbara’s conversation with Steffi, she looks reluctant while Steffi shows her the catalogue with ostensible excitement on her face. Capitalist consumerism is not what she wants in her life. Moreover, just before Jörg leaves for the meeting, he proposes “what Petzold regards the key sentence of the whole film”: Jörg: “Once you’ve come over, you’ll be able to sleep late.” Barbara: “Why is that?” Jörg: “I earn enough, you won’t need to work.” The conversation between Jörg and Barbara is important in the narrative of the film is because it makes Barbara reconsider her wish to go to the West. She realizes that going to the West may mark the end of the medical career to which she devotes herself and is her identity. Barbara had an accomplished and fulfilling career in East Germany. Although she is reassigned to a small clinic, she once worked at the famous Charité hospital in Berlin. Consumerism, fear for change in her professional life and the growing affection toward Andre contribute to her decision to stay in East Germany at the end of the film. Petzold uses Chic’s At Last, I’m Free as the ending theme of the film. The connotation of the song is open to different interpretations; it could possibly mean that Stella finally escapes, or a more likely explanation would be Barbara has the freedom to choose where she lives of her own will. Schlöndorff, in The Legend of Rita, also addresses the freedom of choice and at the same time justifies people’s resentment to the government in the East and why Rita is more motivated to be a good East German citizen than her peer at the factory. In the scene Rita and Tatjana having a conversation after work by the window, Tatjana asks Rita: Tatjana: “Don’t you regret coming here?” Rita: “I’ve always been left politically. I didn’t have a lot of options. I used to be a waitress.” Tatjana: “Funny, you come here voluntarily and I want nothing more than to get away.” Rita: “This is how it is, here and there.” Tatjana: “I’d like to see that with my own eyes. Maybe I’d even come back, then I’d be here on my own will.” This conversation indicates that people in East Germany do not have the liberty to have their own political opinions, but it also implies that the western system is not necessarily superior to the socialist model in East Germany. Freedom is not simply moving to the West or the West annexing the East, but the ability to make choices. Schlöndorff dealt with the political issue between East and West with a great amount of political sensitivity. He challenges the image of the former GDR as a failed political experiment but as a socialist utopia. A Strong anti-capitalist message is delivered in the Legend of Rita. Schlöndorff intends to upset the accustomed view of the GDR as a failed political system and question the commonly accepted western system that triumphs over the East. Rita herself is left-wing political. Unlike Andreas Baader in the film the Baader-Meinhof Complex, who appears a violent egocentric extremist, Rita is well aware of the political motivation behind her radical actions in West Germany. At the beginning of the film, Rita’s monologue states that her intention is to abolish injustice as well as the government. Politics were war throughout the world. She has Karl Marx’s bust and books of iconic revolutionary figures, such as Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara. Moreover, she is more anti-capitalist than pro-violence. This is demonstrated in the scene she has a heated debate with her partners when they are in exile in France. Although she shot the policemen who pursue her in France, she did that involuntarily because she was trapped in the underground parking lot. The political message intended in the Legend of Rita is delivered directly through Rita's speech in front of a group of workers after the wall came down. She believes that East Germany is a place everyone is equal; People will not be fired or kicked out of their apartments, the socialism in East Germany was a great attempt and a revolution, it is supposed to be a world that is not ruled by money and people should have faith in their political system. Her speech incorporates the social and economic issues in the former East Germany post-reunification. Many people, who worked within the socialist system, lost their jobs as the system collapsed. Rita is portrayed as the personification of the political ideal she holds. During nearly decades between the early 1970s and 1989, Rita did not age at all, thus it can be interpreted she is more an epitome of socialist ideals rather than a real human being. Rita is also a more devout socialist than any local East German in the film. She is rewarded “für vorbildliche sozialistische Arbeit” (for exemplary socialist work), and she is disappointed that the East Germans do not understand the political concept of the GDR (Moeller and Lellis 2012). Pessimism toward reunification is expressed in the Legend of Rita, as reunification marks the end of utopia. If Rita represents her political ideals, the death of Rita at the end of the film symbolizes the end of the political ideal. From the German title of the film, die Stille nach dem Schuss (the silence after the shot), this message is implied, yet it is lost in the English translation. After the reunification, the two German states became one, and Rita’s real identity is exposed. She is then wanted on both sides of the disappearing border. With the retort of the German national anthem, Tatjana is brutally pushed against the wall by a group of policemen when she is trying to find Susanne (Rita’s first alias). The authority and brutal law enforcement still exist although the Stasi is disbanded as former East Germany being absorbed by the West. The film ends with Rita being killed when she was trying to ride across the border as the retort of the German anthem plays again. As opposed to the Legend of Rita, Barbara is almost apolitical. The former GDR is set as the background of the love story of Barbara. The absence of political manifestation makes room for the multidimensionality of characters in Barbara and a different experience of the history of GDR. Debbie Pinfold states that Petzold breaks down the perpetrator v. victim binary in which the GDR is remembered by the public. This binary mindset is an account for the success of the Lives of the Others, in which the GDR is cleanly divided into the state as the perpetrator, represented by the Stasi officers and government officials, and the artists and people as the victim. The subtle dynamic relations of power grant the complexity of characters in Barbara. In the first scene of the film, Barbara comes to work by bus. Although she arrives early, she sits in front of the clinic to smoke a cigarette and would not enter the workplace. Andre and the Stasi officer, Schütz, watch her from the window on the second floor. The position of the characters indicates the power relations at this moment. Barbara is a new doctor in the village who has been recently demoted from the most prominent hospital in Berlin and she is in a new place where she knows no one. Barbara is placed in a relatively powerless position in this scene when she is watched unawares by Andre, a doctor who has already integrated into the village and is supposedly collaborating with Stasi, and a Stasi office, who represent state authority and power over people (Pinfold 2014). Barbara’s vulnerability is exhibited in the scenes, which show she is visited by the Stasi officer. She is visited twice in her apartment throughout the film. The process of the visits includes not only questioning and going through her belongings but also cavity search. She is thoroughly searched when she comes home late and after Stella escapes from the Torgau Juvenile Workhouse. According to the time when the Stasi officers come to Barbara’s place, then the time she comes home and her relationship with Stella is watched and reported to the Stasi by the superintendent at her apartment and Andre or other colleagues. Barbara is forced to stand against the wall in her own home while Schütz sits amidst Barbara’s clothes on the floor and other Stasi agents carry on their search and investigation. Barbara’s vulnerability peaks during the second visit of the Stasi agents. When she hears the agent who conducts cavity search knocking on the door, Schütz asks her to open the door without any emotion, she begs Schütz in a shivering voice, yet Schütz remains emotionless and the cavity search carries on subsequently. However, the relation of power reverses in the film when Barbara goes to Schütz’s to look for Andre, while he attends Schütz’s sick wife in bed. Barbara comes in uninvited when Schütz sits vulnerably in the room. His vulnerability is exposed to Barbara, the woman whom he once inflicted terror upon when he is being watched by Barbara emotionlessly from a distance. Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler in the Lives of the Others works with mechanical efficiency. His function as an agent of oppression is enforced through the presentation of the absence of a personal life. Unlike Wiesler, the character of Schütz is enriched with a family life besides his profession as a Stasi agent. Schütz carries both occupations as a man, who is capable of love and feelings, and a functional Stasi agent when he carries on missions at Barbara’s apartment. Furthermore, cultural reference is used in Barbara to recreate a relatively more authentic experience of GDR and enrich the characters in Barbara with complexity. I Andre in Barbara is an admirer of art. He attempts to connect with Barbara by discussing Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicholaes Tulp. He also enjoys literature and music. When Barbara comes to his apartment, he has photographs and paintings of different styles hanging on his wall, and a piano standing in the living room. Instead, the Lives of the Others presents GDR as a cultural wasteland where the only artworks allowed are those that praise the regime (Fisher 2013). The Legend of Rita has a conclusively pessimistic ending as the protagonist, who is the personification of socialist ideals, is shot dead at the end of the film with two lines of text appearing on the screen: “Alles ist so gewesen. Nichts war genau so.” (This is how everything was, more or less). Unlike the Legend of Rita, Barbara has an open ending and it raises more questions than it answered. The film ends with Barbara returning to the hospital breathing heavily after sending Stella off to Denmark. There is no dialogue between Barbara and Andre in the hospital. Many questions are left to the audience, such as how will the relationship between Andre and Barbara develop after she missed Mario’s operation and is suspected of assisting a fugitive from the Torgau Juvenile Workhouse escape the country. In conclusion, both the Legend of Rita and Barbara challenge the public narratives of the history of the former GDR set up and reinforced by the Lives of the Others with different approaches. The Legend of Rita arouses sympathy for the protagonist and the end of the political ideals that Rita upholds. The film challenges the common image of GDR as a political failure and presents the ideals as brave and revolutionary. Barbara, on the other hand, focuses on the complexity of East German society other than politics. The film reconstructs the GDR in colour and warmth with elaborated complexity of characters and enriching cultural references. It does not only challenge the familiar narrative of the GDR history as simply Stasiland but also avoids the conventional discourse of GDR as an extinct political system and recreates the individuality of the memories of professional and personal lives in former East Germany with the foregrounding of Barbara’s love story. And through Barbara’s narrative, the people who once lived in GDR are more than a collective object to the oppression of Stasi in history, but a group of individuals who have their very own stories.

柏林电影学派（Berliner Schule）的美学追求是放弃经典宏大的叙事，回归到人物的日常生活状态，进行精准细致的描述，使电影观众看到德国社会的真实状况。同时，这批享有共同美学特征的导演大部分来自西德地区，影片也常常采用较为主观的视角对主题进行处理，因此，柏林电影学派的作品也可以被解读为从西德视角出发，对变革中的社会所作的回顾式纪录。从影评人对这个电影流派的概述里，自然就不难理解克里斯蒂安·佩措尔德（Christian Petzold）作品中不断消解戏剧化的叙事方式，以及暗藏玄机的时代背景交待。

在《芭芭拉》这部获得柏林电影节最佳导演奖的影片里，佩措尔德将这种云淡风轻的美学风格发挥到极致。镜头拍摄寡言少语的女主角乘坐电车，骑自行车，冷漠对待医院同事，谨小慎微地避免引人注意。这些毫不起眼的细节在不断还原出冷战年代下东德社会的特殊环境与生活质感，同时也刻画出女主角的性格。剧本里没有正面交待很多关键的信息，比如像她为何被贬到穷乡僻壤的小医院，秘密警察随时上门搜查的触目惊心情节，还有那些被送到医院救治的青年男女究竟所犯何事。然而，细心的观众依然可以在生活流的细节和对白里逐渐找到相应的答案。

导演并不志在要拍摄那种让观众猜谜的高智商影片，相反他用作者化的手段准确地描绘出东德社会的生活点滴。所有的戏剧化情节都掌握得恰到好处，并没有太过刻意制造剧情张力的段落（除了逃走女孩在女主角准备逃亡的夜晚造访这个令我意外），人物角色的情绪波动与感情变化甚至是难以察觉。然而，观众却能在纪实风格的日常生活流场景里逐渐感悟出这个压抑人性，禁锢自由的社会环境。女主角由始至终的目的都是想方设法逃离这个社会，奔向光明自由的国度。

全凭有女主角Nina Hoss出色的演绎，她小心翼翼的行为动作，脸上转瞬即逝的神态表情，甚至是对男主角那句漫不经心的“谎言”（周日早上会来给男孩做手术），都能让观众感觉到她内心极其强烈矛盾的抗争。一方面她想离开，另一方面却遇上心仪的爱情，两者取舍之下，她拱手将自由送给年轻的少女，最终选择回到那个不自由的环境，与相爱的男人继续厮守终生。这根本不像是常规好莱坞大团圆经典结局，却意外地契合那个特殊年代下普通人的命运选择。于是，影片又再次回到柏林电影学派的美学风格轨迹上，淡化戏剧性的情节，令故事更接近平常生活状态，留下似有若无的气氛与片段让电影观众在影片结束后，仍然能回味无穷。