The Movie
Holocaust movies are rarely easy to sit through (with the exception of Life is Beautiful), as the suffering and hardships are so beyond anything the average person will every suffer through. But despite this, they continue to be made, and audiences continue to watch them. Perhaps it's the very extreme situations that make Nazi Germany so foreign to humanity that make it such compelling subject matter. Whatever the reason, the interest in WW II genocide has resulted in veteran German director Margarethe von Trotta's exploration of a minor, but intriguing part of the story.

On Rosenstrasse in Berlin, the Nazi's kept Jews married to Gentiles and the children of such mixed marriages, in preparation for "evacuation" (in other words, shipment to the concentration camps.) German law prevented such "evacuations" of those related to non-Jews, but this building was a holding area, where the Nazis would wait out the law's expiration. As could be expected, the relatives of those held captive weren't very happy about it. And in a rare display of successful civil protest, the wives stood their ground outside the prison until their husbands were set free.

Though named Rosenstrasse, this film is not solely about this overlooked historical event. The framing device is a conflict between New Yorker Hannah Weinstein and her grieving mother, Ruth, a survivor of the Holocaust. After the death of her father, Hannah becomes annoyed by Ruth's sudden "Jewish-ness" in sitting Shiva, right down to the covered windows. Matters only get more complicated when her Nicaraguan boyfriend Luis (who inexplicably speaks German) arrives. Her mixed relationship angers Ruth, for some unknown reason, a reason Hannah needs to find out.

Pretending to be a gratuate student, she interviews 90-year-old Lena Fischer, an Aryan German who adopted Ruth as an orphaned child of the Nazis' cruelty, after they met outside of the Rosenstrasse prison. The movie then bounces back and forth between present-day Germany and WW II Rosenstrasse to show how the protest progressed, and Hannah's growing understanding of her mother's life. The plot is pretty much self-explanatory from there, with plenty of drama to go around and good performances by Katja Riemann as Lena at age 33.

Rosenstrasse is well-shot, if simply designed, with as authentic-looking a WW II Germany as seen in recent years. The story isn't that new, but the angle certainly is, as not many had ever heard about the rule that protected Jews married to Gentiles. It's an interesting idea for a movie that didn't pan out as well as it could have, perhaps due to the pedestrian style and unrealistic plot contrivances. The existence of this film to inform about a forgotten part of WW II more than makes up for any filmmaking sins on von Trotta's part though.

The DVD
Columbia Tri-Star packaged a 2.35:1 anamorphic, widescreen transfer of Rosenstrasse on one disc, in a standard keepcase with a promotional insert that has no information about the film. The anamorphic, widescreen static menus have stills from the film, with options for subtitles (English only), scene selections and previews. The scene selection menus include small still previews in a Star of David-themed design.

The Quality
The video on this movie is presented clearly, with good color and very good clarity and detail, encoded at an average of over 8Mbps. Occasionally, there is some dirt and debris on the transfer, including some stray hairs. During the WW II scenes, he color palette is mainly cold and gray, but the DVD doesn't get the image muddy, and blacks and shadows are strong. The audio is 5.1 Dolby German, with some decent surround effects, especially during external scenes. The dialogue comes across clearly, without any interference, unless intended.

The Extras
There's just one film-related extra on this DVD, that being the theatrical trailer, but Columbia Tri-Star has included seven other previews, including Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, Bon Voyage, Super Size Me, The Company, Breakin' All the Rules, Whale Rider and The Winslow Boy. At least they didn't leave out Rosenstrasse in all their whoring.

The Bottom Line
Instead of just another Holocaust movie, Rosenstrasse tries to create a cross-generational, female empowerment story. What they really created was a disjointed mix of ideas that didn't really come together in the end. The current-day story doesn't have the emotional gravity needed to stand alongside the more interesting and relatively unknown true story of Jewish survivors in Nazi Germany. The DVD is a barebones release, but the film is presented at a good level of quality, so anyone interested will see the movie as it should be seen. This is no lighthearted film, and will likely appeal only to WW II aficionados, and is a rental choice for anyone else because of the unique history involved.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.