There aren’t nearly enough films about life behind – and beyond – the Berlin Wall in the 1970s, and fewer still with the gritty authenticity of East German émigré Schwochow’s slow-burning thriller, intelligently adapted from Julia Franck’s novel by the director’s mother, Heide. Triebel won the German equivalent of an Oscar for her outstanding performance as Nelly Senff, a young mother who escapes Communist-run East Germany in the 1970s for a new life in the West, only to find herself stuck in the no-man’s-land of a processing centre, interrogated by security agents over her dead boyfriend’s murky past.
West Review
Following her boyfriend Vasily's death, in Communist-run East Germany in the late 1970s, Nelly (Triebel) escapes with her son to the West, where she slowly uncovers the truth about Vasily's murky past.
Release Date:
12 Jun 2015
Running Time:
102 minutes
Certificate:
15
Original Title:
West
Triebel is an outstanding presence in this slow-burning thriller, which continues to smoulder long after the credits roll.
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