"I wanted the GDR to look colourful", Christian Petzold has said repeatedly when asked about the cinematography and aesthetics of his Oscar-nominated film "Barbara" and his personal stake in the story:"Mr. Petzold, “Barbara” tells the story of a female doctor in the GDR, who applies for a travel permit to the West and therefore is being transferred to a hospital in a hick-town. How did you choose this subject?
It is now nearly ten years ago that I first played with that thought. I liked a book by Hermann Broch very much, a novella called “Barbara”, about a female communist resistance fighter.
In 2006 I met a doctor from Fürstenwalde (East Germany) who told me the stories of some of his colleagues who had applied for travel permits.
Continue reading "Christian Petzold on a Technicolor GDR" »
