Director Christian Petzold’s shattering portrait of a woman adrift in post-WWII Berlin forgoes wishful sentimentality in favor of painful re-discovery. The result is a quietly-devastating film that will haunt you for weeks to come.
Barbara Directed by Christian Petzold Germany, 2012 Philadelphia Film Festival One of the unsung modern directors is Christian Petzold of the so-called “Berlin School” of filmmakers. His latest feature Barbara acts as companion piece to some of his earlier, loner, frequently female-driven narratives. Barbara (Nina Hoss) comes to East Germany in 1980 as an implied …