Es ist nicht vorbei - a drama about truth and justice - premiered on German television (ARD) in 2011.
Here is some basic information about this drama which is inspired by a true story:
** English title: It Is Not Over
** Produced by Michael Lerhman and Heike Streich
** Directed by Franziska Meletzky
** Written by Kristin Derfler and Clemens Murath
** Language: German – no English subtitles!
** Released on DVD in 2011
** Run time: 89 minutes
The cast includes the following:
The first group
** Anja Kling as Carola Weber
** Tobias Oertel as Jochen Weber – Carola’s husband
The second group
** Ulrich Noethen as Professor Wolfgang Limberg
** Melika Foroutan as Monika Limberg – Wolfgang’s wife
** Merle Juschka as Friederike Limberg – Wolfgang’s daughter
The third group
** Kirsten Block as Helga Gramski – an official at the Stasi Archives
** Marie Grubow as Renate Förster – a tour guide at the former Hoheneck Prison
I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. I am not going to say much about what happens in this movie. I will only tell you how the story begins, so you understand the topic that is explored here.
The story is set in Germany around 2010. Carola, the main character, who is around 40 years old, is a music teacher at a music school. Her husband Jochen is a doctor at the local hospital.
One day when they are invited to a dinner party at another family, Carola hears a voice that takes her back to the past; back to a time she has been trying to forget; back to the time when she was incarcerated in the East German prison Hoheneck, when the Berlin Wall was still standing.
Carola was born and grew up in East Germany, known in English as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and known in German as DDR.
When she was 18 years old, she tried to leave the country, but she was caught and arrested for trying to escape the republic.
While she was in prison, a doctor came to see her from time to time. Not to take care of her, but to give her certain drugs in order to break down her opposition to the state.
The drugs made her dizzy and groggy for a while. In spite of this fact, the doctor said she was fit to go back to work.
While working with a dangerous machine in this condition, she lost two fingers. Carola still blames the doctor for this accident.
After the Berlin Wall stopped working in 1989, Carola goes to the Stasi Archives to find her Stasi file. She hopes to find the name of the doctor who mistreated her while she was in prison. But this is not easy.
The name of the doctor is not mentioned in the file. He is only mentioned by a code-name, and no one in the Stasi Archives knows the real name.
Because of the drugs, Carola cannot remember his face. The drugs have destroyed a part of her memory. They also mean she cannot get pregnant.
She has tried to put the past behind her, and she has managed quite well until the moment when she hears the voice again. The voice belongs to Wolfgang Limberg, a professor, who has just been hired at the hospital where Jochen works.
Carola is shocked. She says she is not feeling well and asks Jochen to take her home.
The next day she goes to the hospital. Having found doctor Limberg, she confronts him:
“You were the one who mistreated me in prison. Do you remember me?”
The professor says she must have confused him with someone else. He says he has never been to this prison in East Germany.
Later that day, Jochen and Carola talk about the case. Jochen is very upset. He has never heard about this episode before. How could she not tell him that she had been in prison in the DDR?
He cannot believe her accusation. He says the professor is a highly respected doctor.
Jochen cannot believe this doctor would harm one of his patients. He urges his wife to let it go.
But Carola cannot let it go. She is convinced Limberg is the doctor who drugged her while she was in Hoheneck Prison. But Limberg strongly denies the charges against him. This is how the story begins.
In this drama, we follow the case as it develops. We see what is does to Carola, her husband, and the people around them. We also see what is does to Limberg, his wife, and the people around them.
Will Carola find the truth? Will she get justice? Is Limberg really the man she is looking for or has she confused him with someone else?
I am not going to tell you. If you want to know the answer to these questions, you will have to watch the movie all the way to the end.
As stated above, this movie is inspired by a true story: the inspiration is the case of Tatjana Sterneberg, who was born in East Germany in 1952.
In 1974, when she was 22, she was arrested and found guilty of a serious crime. Her sentence was three years and eight months. She was a political prisoner in Hoheneck Prison where conditions were horrible.
The cells were overcrowded and the inmates were treated very badly. They also had to work. Their products were exported to the west.
Only two years later, in 1976, Tatjana was released and expelled to the west. She was released, because the West German government had paid a huge amount of money to the East German government.
DDR needed hard currency. During the 1970s and the 1980s, East Germany would occasionally allow West Germany to buy the freedom of a political prisoner.
Since her release, Tatjana has been working to document how DDR violated the rights of the women who were doing time in Hoheneck.
This drama about Carola is dedicated to the numerous women who were sent to this prison.
Anja Kling, who plays Carola, was born in Potsdam in 1970 and grew up in East Germany.
While she lived in East Germany, she knew Hoheneck was a prison for women, but she did not know political prisoners were sent to this place. This fact was only revealed after the Berlin Wall stopped working.
In order to prepare for the role, Anja Kling met and talked with Tatjana Sterneberg, who says that much of what we see in this movie is true, in particular the fact that doctors used certain drugs to break down opposition of the political prisoners. She knows this from personal experience.
What do reviewers say about this movie?
On IMDb it has a rating of 68 per cent.
On Amazon Germany there are at the moment 133 ratings of this product; 38 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.5 stars which corresponds to a rating of 90 percent.
In my opinion, the rating on IMDb is too low, while the rating on Amazon is more appropriate.
Why?
I have four reasons:
# 1. The script is well-written
# 2. The actors play their roles well
# 3. The story is captivating, dramatic, and often deeply emotional
# 4. The drama is inspired by a true story
I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).
PS # 1. For more information, see the following books:
Gefangen im Stasiknast: Tagebuch einer politischen Gefangenen im Frauenzuchthaus Hoheneck
By Birgit Schlicke
(2009)
Hoheneck: Das DDR Frauenzuchthaus
by Rengha Rodewill
(2014)
Der Dunkle Ort: 25 Frauenschicksale aus dem DDR-Frauengefängnis Hoheneck
By Dirk von Nayhauss and Maggie Riepl
(2015)
PS # 2. Die Frauen von Hoheneck is a documentary film that was shown on German television (ARD) in 2013. Run time: 30 minutes.
PS # 3. The following item is available online:
“Die wahre Geschichte hinter den TV-Drama: Anja Kling, was wussten sie vom Frauen-Knast der Stasi?”
Bild, 10 November 2011
*****
Der Dunkle Ort:
25 Frauenschicksale aus dem
DDR-Frauengefängnis Hoheneck
By Dirk von Nayhauss & Maggie Riepl
(2015)
*****
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