MATTHEW WILEY
GN 404
2/26/98

Both Jutta Brückner and Helma Sanders-Brahms, in their respective films, Ein oanz und gar verwahrlostes Mädchen (A Thoroughly Demoralized Girl) and Deutschland, bleiche Mutter (Germany, Pale Mother), use their titles thematically to convey certain instances in the lives of the directors. The films focus on oppressed women in the midst of a threatening , and even "demoralizing", world. Brückner and Sanders-Brahms use different forms of narrative but are striving for the same goal: to autobiographically depict a woman's struggle for integrity and morality in a male-dominated culture.

Jutta Brückner incorporates her struggle through a documentary of her friend Rita Rischak, in a film entitled Ein ganz und gar verwahrlostes Mädchen(A Thoroughly Demoralized Girl). The word "verwahrlost' can also mean neglected or uncared for. This seems like an appropriate title when one considers her child-like insecurities. When she is in her friend's office (the intellectual) she is constantly tampering with articles on the desk as well as other objects in the office. This particular characteristic portrays Brückner's child-like curiosity and search for something real and tangible.

Rita (Brückner) has been physically and emotionally deprived and abandoned. She is therefore, searching incessantly for some sort of affection and/or attention. She is "verwahrlost". She has been neglected. Brückner confesses in her interview, "I experienced my subjectivity as alienation, as failure, as deficiency." She claims that she feels alienated and even threatened by the external world, which is largely male dominated. This would explain her immature behavior. She longs to become acquainted with something of this world. But she has been so neglected that she feels estranged to her surroundings and the people with whom she associates.

Brückner very effectively (in my opinion) integrates her title into the film through the simple use of black and white film. It draws the viewer into Rita's monotonous and depressing life. Rita's life, like the film, lacks color. There is no variety. This is why the last five minutes of the film are so powerful. Color has been added; life has been added. She has finally reached a place of change. Captions are added to give Rita's life a fantasy-like quality. This point in her life is like a dream come true.

Helma Sanders-Brahms approaches this theme of oppressed and neglected women in a different fashion. In her film, Deutschland bleiche Mutter(Germany, Pale Mother), SandersBrahms establishes this theme from a maternalistic perspective.

Sanders-Brahms opens her film with the reading of Brecht's poem, "O Deutschland, bleiche Mutter( 0 Germany, Pale Mother)". Traditionally, Germany has been referred to as the "Vaterland", or the fatherland. Here Sanders-Brahms (and Brecht) refers to Germany as a mother who sits "defiled among the peoples". Brecht states (Sanders-Brahms echoes) that Germany sits among the people as a "mockery" and a "threat". Not only does Sanders-Brahms effectively integrate her title into the film, but she also manages to incorporate this entire poem into the film as well.

Sanders-Brahms calls Germany a "pale mother'. Germany has no color or life ( not unlike the life of Brückner's Rita). Germany has "given birth" to a revolting nation that is draining the life out of its own country. The word "pale is often associated with a sickness. Germany, in a sense, has been infected and "defiled" by what it has spawned: a nation of oppression and violence. This whole concept of motherhood is integrated into the relationship of the mother and the daughter.

There is a direct correlation between the voice of the poem and the voice of the narrator. The mother is raped and defiled by two drunk soldiers. These are supposed to be upstanding men of integrity. This rape is committed in the presence of the daughter. This is directly related to the oppression and intrusion of the external male world.

As Sanders-Brahms narrates her mother's experiences, her voice seems to echo that of Brecht's. The child constantly seems to be in a state of bewilderment. Her thoughts and questions seem to ponder on those of Brecht's. She asks, "Why do the oppressors on every side praise you, but/ The oppressed indict you?" The exploited, Brecht says, Point fingers at her while the exploiters praise the system which is devised in her own house. The young girl wonders why the oppressed and the used, such as the father, are abusing her, and she is blamed by the oppressed , or her family.

Both films are aiming for the same goals but are approached and achieved from different angles. The titles are significant factors and mediums through which the themes are established. Brückner uses a physically and emotionally forsaken woman and Sanders-Brahms uses a daughter to narrate the experiences of a defiled and oppressed mother. But both films are direct autobiographical accounts and results of the oppression of a male-dominated external world.