An interview with a 103 year old woman interspersed with documentary
segments from the 1940s is not the sort of thing that would seem gripping. Yet, it is, because she explains and reveals her own understanding through her journey as a young woman. She can compare the world of now and its differences with the world she grew up in: it's rules and insularity, and how that spawned the events which led to war and catastrophe.
In a way this is companion piece to Hanke's 'The White Ribbon', not literally, but in the exposure of a society and time which has no resemblance to anything now in Europe. Hanke's film is fiction and with Pomsel's testimony the audience is drawn to her comprehension of herself as a young person and her life afterwards.
There is a compelling feature to her aged face as she talks, the time etched in her lines, the photography and lighting works excellently here, and fortunately for us, she is lucid and recalls the events and her impressions from over 80 years before.
The use of documentary film from various sources over the same period is well judged, and the editing the entire film coheres extremely well.
This is a great piece of documentary making and the sort of reference people will view in a hundred years to understand what that time was like to live through. And of course, it has its tragedies: the fate of her friend being poignant and terrible.
In a way this is companion piece to Hanke's 'The White Ribbon', not literally, but in the exposure of a society and time which has no resemblance to anything now in Europe. Hanke's film is fiction and with Pomsel's testimony the audience is drawn to her comprehension of herself as a young person and her life afterwards.
There is a compelling feature to her aged face as she talks, the time etched in her lines, the photography and lighting works excellently here, and fortunately for us, she is lucid and recalls the events and her impressions from over 80 years before.
The use of documentary film from various sources over the same period is well judged, and the editing the entire film coheres extremely well.
This is a great piece of documentary making and the sort of reference people will view in a hundred years to understand what that time was like to live through. And of course, it has its tragedies: the fate of her friend being poignant and terrible.