芭芭拉

芭芭拉·沃富注定是孤独的。

因为这时正处于1980年东、西德分裂时期。更因为她心怀梦想而频遭监视。她被迫从柏林最高医学院，下放到位于波罗的海边的一座小城。远在西德的爱人正设法安排她通过偷渡到西德。这个秘密只有她自己了然，当然，也难瞒过东德的秘密警察们。警察不但处处监视她，且不定时上门搜查她的住所。更离谱的是，还要让她面对墙壁，脱光衣服，叉开双腿，一丝不落的查体，生怕漏过一星半点的蛛丝马迹，实在难为了这些秘密警察。

只是再紧密的跟踪也有疏漏之处。倍受人格污辱的芭芭拉，还是能从西德来的爱人见上面，并商议如何偷渡的计划。她把钱藏在路口转角处那硕大十字架下的一块大石头里。年轻漂亮的芭芭拉，每天就踩着单车往返医院和住所，从不随便外出，更不交往朋友。这不免引来诸多异样的目光。

唯一接近她的人就是医院新来的同事安德烈·瑞斯。他也是因一次医疗事故，从柏林大医院被“下放”到此处。起初，芭芭拉不免处处设防他，让他难以接近。似乎安德烈能体察到她内心的郁闷。他第一天上班时，警察克劳斯就告诉过他：“她是一个行为乖张的人……”警察的提醒，反而激发了安德烈的更大兴趣，其中有好奇更有一见倾心的爱慕。

有一天警察送来一位名叫丝特拉的漂亮女孩，芭芭拉格外同情她的遭遇，只有芭芭拉才能走进她痛苦的内心。芭芭拉为她读马克·吐温的小说。久违的阳光渐渐洒照进来。但糟糕的是丝特拉在被称为社会主义实验营的“托尔高”里，遭到过强奸，且有了身孕。芭芭拉不想她再被送往“托尔高”的集中营。安德烈却无奈的说：“最多她只能在医院多待两、三天。”事实是，丝特拉被警察迅即带往“托尔高”。丝特拉带着身孕在“托尔高”从事着高强度劳动。当人们注意空中的跳伞时，她乘机逃脱了，但她的大腿被铁丝网划了个大口子。可怜的丝特拉，她能逃到哪呢。

芭芭拉的秘密偷渡计划，终于定在了这个周五的晚上。想着能跟深爱她的爱人见面，且从此过上自由又平静的生活，她既兴奋莫明又惶恐不安。而那天正是她值班，需要跟安德烈换班。安德烈也爽快答应了。恰在此时，一个因跳楼自杀未遂的小伙需要手术，芭芭拉因责任所在，小伙的病情已不容耽搁，便想要及时告诉安德烈。恰好安德烈不在医院，已出外门诊。偏就诊的这户人家正是警察克劳斯家，当她找到时，克劳斯瞪大眼神的看看她说安德烈在楼上。芭芭拉匆忙上楼，看到安德烈正帮一位女人注射吗啡。原来这位女人正是克劳斯罹患癌症的妻子，注射吗啡只是减缓她的痛苦而已。在这样的专制国家，即或奉令行事的秘密警察，也有着不为外人言的痛苦。

忙了一通后，安德烈带芭芭拉来到自己的住所，为她做饭，跟她谈心。他哪知道她即将就要远走高飞呢。痛苦又纠结的芭芭拉，处处感受到了安德烈的浓浓爱意，还是跟他拥抱在一起，瞬间又拒绝了他。

芭芭拉疲惫的回到住所，正收拾东西准备离开时，没想到门声再次被敲响，她以为是警察，带着几近昏厥的压力开门后，竟发现是慌张的丝特拉。芭芭拉为她擦净伤口消毒后，即背起她下楼。漆黑一团的夜，让人揪着的心无法放下。芭芭拉踩着单车前往海边。

寒风凛冽，丝特拉无力的靠在她背上。芭芭拉的紧张可谓达到了极点。最怕的就是突然杀出的警察车辆。幸而到了海边。接送她的男人顶着大浪划着皮筏到岸边，芭芭拉给了那人的费用，就背着丝特拉上筏子。那人划着筏子就载着丝特拉走了，而芭芭拉则永远留在了东德的岸上。

此时，安德烈来到芭芭拉的住处，竟然发现门也没关，空无一人，茶几上留有他送给她的《赤脚医生》那本书，警察克劳斯赶来冷冷的说：“她不会再回来了。”安德烈问：“是你们关了她吗？”克劳斯没有回答。

当痛苦的安德烈回到医院，正愁肠百结时，芭芭拉悄悄来到他身边，一言不发的着起了白大褂，继续她在小城的“赤脚医生”工作。安德烈猛然地看到了她冷冽外表下，其实蕴含着一颗温情的女人心。

这就是荣获第62届柏林电影节“银熊奖”和“最佳导演奖”的电影《芭芭拉》（2012年出品），由德国导演克里斯蒂安·佩措尔德执导。芭芭拉由尼娜·霍斯饰演，安德烈由隆纳德·泽荷菲德出演。芭芭拉的沉静、雅致和孤独一如影片的格调，克制在三十年前的东德现场。而东、西德，如紧固的万花筒，最终让不同碎片，相安无事的融合一起，走向了多彩的世界。自由的伞花得以在在晴朗的天空下，如万花朵朵般展开。

2012、11、28

选自海天出版社出版的影评集《看不见的电影》

高速路靠近滇池一侧有一段路栽着一排笔直的柏树，风从树梢越过的时候似乎隔着密闭的车窗玻璃也能听见呼呼的风声，同时还有树丛背后浪涛拍岸的声音。幻觉中的声音总会不经意的把我带到一个背景相似的地方：芭芭拉骑着自行车，独自一人穿过田野和树丛之间的小路，海风在大树的最高处肆虐，树丛的背后就是无际的海浪…… 如果不考虑芭芭拉的处境，单纯从这个日复一日的场景中我感觉到了某种被隔离的宁静，远离尘世的喧嚣。但这只是我一厢情愿的错觉。 看似宁静的生活，对芭芭拉其实是一种软禁。 她是谁？她从何而来？她为何到此？ 对她的介绍非常的简单：一个女医生，从大城市的大医院调过来，确切的说，是出狱之后下放到一个不知名的小地方。原因不明，因为她交了一个柏林墙之外的男友？那个年代的历史背景，我不了解。 除此以外，对她没有更多可了解的。 她很冷漠，对周围的同事和邻居，带着戒备的疏离。 她也很温和，对一名遭遇悲惨的女孩桑戴拉，她刚进医院就遇到的一个病人---为了逃离看守所藏在野外时患上了脑膜炎。 上班---回家，两点一线，独来独往。 她的生活简单，但不平静--- 房东就是一个无孔不入的监视者，窗外总会停着一辆小车，时不时会有人上门强行对她做一番带有侮辱性质的身体检查，医院里也随时会被人打报告……他人，就是某个看不见的强权机构的眼睛，冷冰冰的盯着她，让人感到一种无形的压迫。 除了一双眼睛，对她报以同情或是另有深意的目光---安德烈，一名男医生，其实也是她的监视者之一，只是还没有完全同化成麻木的监视器。 他是一个很有意思的人，始终很清醒 他看见黑暗，能力有限也只能做一些力所能及的努力；他不同流合污，对“坏人”的病痛也还不至于见死不救；在如此压抑的环境里，他拥有一个阳光明媚、香草芬芳的后花园；他认为一个医生应该具有乡村医生的觉悟；他知道如何在黑暗与光明之间斡旋，独善其身 他同情她的境遇，因为他也来自一个更好的地方 他不理解她的倨傲，因为他们的出身背景不同 相同的一点是，他们都是医生，都还没有被环境碾压成失去良知和个性的医生。他珍视这一点，可是她无视这一点，因为，在他看来是难能可贵，对她来说只是理所当然 他想留下她，就像她是照亮他生活的一道光 她想离开，因为生活让她承受太多的黑暗 于是，在他们之间出现了一番微妙的较量 一个男孩因跳楼自杀未遂伤到大脑，芭芭拉细心的诊断出男孩的病情危急，安德烈请来了医术高明的恩师准备做开颅手术，就在芭芭拉准备逃离的前夜。 安德烈请芭芭拉协助手术，她不置可否。不是有别的医生可以做吗？她卸下了医生的天职，只想回家做好准备，男友已经安排好让她逃离的一切 她没想到，再次逃出来的桑戴拉浑身是血躺在她家门口等着她。这个女孩犯了什么错要被关进看守所？没有任何交代。只知道，她已怀孕。如果被关押她的人知道，肯定又要受到一番非人的折磨。芭芭拉平静地帮女孩处理了伤口，趁着夜色带着她来到海边指定的地点。天色微亮的时候，她把男友给她准备的钱全部交给桑戴拉，还有一封含泪写下的信，然后，她把女孩送走了 …… 安德烈坐在医院的病床边，睡着的男孩经过前一夜的手术已经脱离危险。他坐在那里，若有所思，眼神空洞。昨晚，手术过后，他赶到芭芭拉的住处，她已经离开……这时，芭芭拉走进来，坐在他对面，笑了 安德烈没有留住她 医生的天职没有留住她 为了让桑戴拉和肚子里的孩子能够活下去，她留下了 谁也不知道她会面对什么--- 也许她再也不能和男友重逢 也许她会接受安德烈 也许她会继续冷漠而疏离 也许她要面对更紧密、更残酷的监控 …… 但无疑，从此她的生活具有一种足以承受屈辱的意义，直到理性的光芒驱散荒谬的黑暗 至此，我想起了一段话： 善……是一个人在公共生活或私人生活中，要做出合乎理性的行为，他的眼睛必须凝视的力量。 ---苏格拉底

匆忙写的，没有edit,，有语法问题或拼写错误请见谅。 The Legend of Rita (German title: die Stille nach dem Schuss) is a German film, released in 2000, directed by Volker Schlöndorff. The film tells the story of Rita Vogt, a member of the extreme left-wing terrorist group, Red Army Faktion (RAF). She is responsible for bank robbery, breaking into a prison to rescue her partner and killing a policeman when she is in exile in France. She then finds her place in East German, where she is provided with a new identity by the Stasi. Rita decides to stay in East Germany although her partners decide to leave because she believes East Germany is the country where her political ideal is fulfilled. Barbara was released in 2012, directed by Christian Petzold. In the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in 2012, where Christian Petzold was awarded the Silver Bear for the Best Director. The protagonist, Barbara Wolff, is a doctor who used to work at The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the oldest and most prominent hospital in East Berlin. She is transferred, in fact, demoted, to a clinic in a small village in Northern East Germany and makes the Stasi watch list, because she expressed her wish to go to the West. In the village, she meets Andre, a doctor at the clinic she works at. He is supposed to watch Barbara and report her activities to the Stasi agent in the village. Also, she meets Stella, a girl who was detained at the Torgau Juvenile Workhouse for an unknown reason, Barbara’s former patient, for whom Barbara sacrifices her opportunity to run away to the West. The Legend of Rita and Barbara are both post-reunification German films about the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) and they both attempt to challenge the conventional west-centric discourse of the memory of the GDR in media with different approaches. East Germany is also stereotypically presented as simply Stasiland, with no freedom of speech, failed political system, economically and socially backward. Even though Schlöndorff tried to avoid the conventional West-triumph-over-east narrative, the Legend of Rita still taps into many East German stereotypes. On the other hand, Barbara reconstructs a more realistic GDR in colour and presents a more complex set of characters in the former socialist state. The Stasi is commonly seen as the dominant ruling power over the East German people. The East German people are simply seen as the victims of the state apparatus. The most well-known film about former East Germany is the Lives of Others, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The film won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It also had won numerous awards elsewhere, including Deutscher Filmpreis for the best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best supporting actor. The Lives of the Others sets paradigm of the public discourse of the former GDR. It is so successful because the film reconstructs former East Germany as a dark oppressive country in which people have no freedom of speech. The streets seem dark and grey. Donnersmarck uses an extra-diegetic soundtrack frequently to create the oppressive and unpleasant environment of GDR and guide the thought of the audience further into seeing the GDR as the oppressive force over the population. The Lives of the Others harshly criticize the former East German socialist regime and clearly demonstrate the simplistic binary of the state as the perpetrator and the free-loving people as the victim. Additionally, the narrative of the Lives of the Others exudes optimism towards the reunification in 1989. (Cooke 2011) The end of the socialist regime marks the liberation of people, including the artists. Dreyman’s new play featuring an African-German actress marks progress in anti-racism. The Lives of the Others emphasizes the Stasi as the powerful tool of the state machine overseeing and controlling the people all the time. Their networks are ubiquitous in East German society and the people do not have any chance to resist. Every step taken in East Germany is observed by the Stasi. If anyone shows any signs of faithlessness to the state, he or she will be punished immediately. The Stasi is the ruthless and effective enforcer of the will of the state (Moeller and Lellis 2012). The Legend of Rita and Barbara tackles the popular negative discourse of GDR history not by denying the brutality of the Stasi but by highlighting not only the oppression of the state apparatus but also the revolutionary political ideal and a place where love is possible in spite of the state oppression (Pinfold 2014). Although, West Germany is presented as the Promised Land in the Lives of the Others, Rita and Barbara, eventually willingly surrender their opportunity to live in West Germany. West German society is not at the centre of the stage in either the Legend of Rita or Barbara, however, both films allude to some facts of West German society. In the Legend of Rita, Rita’s first of three stories take place in West Germany and in Barbara, the interaction between East and West can be seen through Barbara’s West German boyfriend and his business partner. Barbara’s boyfriend, Jörg, is a businessman from West Germany, who frequently travels across the border with his business partner. He and his partner come into East Germany with their Mercedes, nice suits and ties, which distinguish them from the local East Germans, who drive Trabis and have to wait for years after they order it. He comes to the East to visit Barbara twice in the film. During the first visit, when Barbara and her boyfriend are meeting in the wood, the business partner of her boyfriend, Gerhard has a conversation with a local East German. The local man shows curiosity about the Mercedes and that indicates the lack of variety and poor quality of East German cars. Later when Barbara’s boyfriend returns to the car, Gerhard imitates the East German in a sarcastic voice: “is that a Mercedes, how much do they cost, how long did you have to wait, we waited eight years for ours and that wasn’t bad” and ask Barbara’s boyfriend: “was is it at least worth it?” This scene shows that the West German feel they are superior to the East because of the economic development. In spite of its poor performance and quality, the Trabant, produced by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Zwickau, Saxony, is a distinctive symbol of the extinct former GDR. Various models of Trabants in different colours are collected in a Trabi museum in Berlin 25 metres away from Checkpoint Charlie. In Dresden, people today can experience relive the life of a former East German by driving a Trabant themselves. The Trabant is indeed the people’s car in East Germany. The Trabant incorporate more cultural and political nuance in the Legend of Rita in the context of Ostalgie. Rita spends the last of her West Deutschmark on a Trabant as part of her integration process into East German society. The second rendezvous between Barbara and her boyfriend took place in a hotel. Barbara sneaks into the hotel room from the window, where they stay and discuss their future. In the hotel room, they hear exaggerated sex noise from Gerhard’s room. Her boy explains that Gerhard has met a girl, Steffi, and he said he loves her. Barbara points out the nature of their relationship immediately: “Because she can’t follow him.” She meets Steffi when her boyfriend and Gerhard go out to attend a meeting in the restaurant. She says to Barbara: Steffi: “If he marries me, do you think they’ll let me leave?” Barbara: “I don’t think so.” Steffi: “Do you know your stuff about this?” Conversation implies that Steffi is unaware of the nature of her relationship with Gerhard. Gerhard used presents in exchange for sex with Steffi. To Barbara, the romantic connection does not exist between Steffi and Gerhard. The relationship between them is simply a trade between sexual intercourse and presents. Yet, Gerhard is not completely honest in this relationship. He claims that he loves Steffi and that makes Steffi dream about one day Gerhard will marry her and take her out of the GDR. It is unlikely he genuinely falls for an East German girl because he talks about the East with contempt when Jörg comes back from his meeting with Barbara in the wood recently. Steffi is amazed by the variety of jewelry in the catalogue, which is unavailable in East Germany at that time. Thus, Gerhard, a businessman from the West, has the chance to exploit the gullibility of the young East German girl and the lack of variety of goods in East Germany. During Barbara’s conversation with Steffi, she looks reluctant while Steffi shows her the catalogue with ostensible excitement on her face. Capitalist consumerism is not what she wants in her life. Moreover, just before Jörg leaves for the meeting, he proposes “what Petzold regards the key sentence of the whole film”: Jörg: “Once you’ve come over, you’ll be able to sleep late.” Barbara: “Why is that?” Jörg: “I earn enough, you won’t need to work.” The conversation between Jörg and Barbara is important in the narrative of the film is because it makes Barbara reconsider her wish to go to the West. She realizes that going to the West may mark the end of the medical career to which she devotes herself and is her identity. Barbara had an accomplished and fulfilling career in East Germany. Although she is reassigned to a small clinic, she once worked at the famous Charité hospital in Berlin. Consumerism, fear for change in her professional life and the growing affection toward Andre contribute to her decision to stay in East Germany at the end of the film. Petzold uses Chic’s At Last, I’m Free as the ending theme of the film. The connotation of the song is open to different interpretations; it could possibly mean that Stella finally escapes, or a more likely explanation would be Barbara has the freedom to choose where she lives of her own will. Schlöndorff, in The Legend of Rita, also addresses the freedom of choice and at the same time justifies people’s resentment to the government in the East and why Rita is more motivated to be a good East German citizen than her peer at the factory. In the scene Rita and Tatjana having a conversation after work by the window, Tatjana asks Rita: Tatjana: “Don’t you regret coming here?” Rita: “I’ve always been left politically. I didn’t have a lot of options. I used to be a waitress.” Tatjana: “Funny, you come here voluntarily and I want nothing more than to get away.” Rita: “This is how it is, here and there.” Tatjana: “I’d like to see that with my own eyes. Maybe I’d even come back, then I’d be here on my own will.” This conversation indicates that people in East Germany do not have the liberty to have their own political opinions, but it also implies that the western system is not necessarily superior to the socialist model in East Germany. Freedom is not simply moving to the West or the West annexing the East, but the ability to make choices. Schlöndorff dealt with the political issue between East and West with a great amount of political sensitivity. He challenges the image of the former GDR as a failed political experiment but as a socialist utopia. A Strong anti-capitalist message is delivered in the Legend of Rita. Schlöndorff intends to upset the accustomed view of the GDR as a failed political system and question the commonly accepted western system that triumphs over the East. Rita herself is left-wing political. Unlike Andreas Baader in the film the Baader-Meinhof Complex, who appears a violent egocentric extremist, Rita is well aware of the political motivation behind her radical actions in West Germany. At the beginning of the film, Rita’s monologue states that her intention is to abolish injustice as well as the government. Politics were war throughout the world. She has Karl Marx’s bust and books of iconic revolutionary figures, such as Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara. Moreover, she is more anti-capitalist than pro-violence. This is demonstrated in the scene she has a heated debate with her partners when they are in exile in France. Although she shot the policemen who pursue her in France, she did that involuntarily because she was trapped in the underground parking lot. The political message intended in the Legend of Rita is delivered directly through Rita's speech in front of a group of workers after the wall came down. She believes that East Germany is a place everyone is equal; People will not be fired or kicked out of their apartments, the socialism in East Germany was a great attempt and a revolution, it is supposed to be a world that is not ruled by money and people should have faith in their political system. Her speech incorporates the social and economic issues in the former East Germany post-reunification. Many people, who worked within the socialist system, lost their jobs as the system collapsed. Rita is portrayed as the personification of the political ideal she holds. During nearly decades between the early 1970s and 1989, Rita did not age at all, thus it can be interpreted she is more an epitome of socialist ideals rather than a real human being. Rita is also a more devout socialist than any local East German in the film. She is rewarded “für vorbildliche sozialistische Arbeit” (for exemplary socialist work), and she is disappointed that the East Germans do not understand the political concept of the GDR (Moeller and Lellis 2012). Pessimism toward reunification is expressed in the Legend of Rita, as reunification marks the end of utopia. If Rita represents her political ideals, the death of Rita at the end of the film symbolizes the end of the political ideal. From the German title of the film, die Stille nach dem Schuss (the silence after the shot), this message is implied, yet it is lost in the English translation. After the reunification, the two German states became one, and Rita’s real identity is exposed. She is then wanted on both sides of the disappearing border. With the retort of the German national anthem, Tatjana is brutally pushed against the wall by a group of policemen when she is trying to find Susanne (Rita’s first alias). The authority and brutal law enforcement still exist although the Stasi is disbanded as former East Germany being absorbed by the West. The film ends with Rita being killed when she was trying to ride across the border as the retort of the German anthem plays again. As opposed to the Legend of Rita, Barbara is almost apolitical. The former GDR is set as the background of the love story of Barbara. The absence of political manifestation makes room for the multidimensionality of characters in Barbara and a different experience of the history of GDR. Debbie Pinfold states that Petzold breaks down the perpetrator v. victim binary in which the GDR is remembered by the public. This binary mindset is an account for the success of the Lives of the Others, in which the GDR is cleanly divided into the state as the perpetrator, represented by the Stasi officers and government officials, and the artists and people as the victim. The subtle dynamic relations of power grant the complexity of characters in Barbara. In the first scene of the film, Barbara comes to work by bus. Although she arrives early, she sits in front of the clinic to smoke a cigarette and would not enter the workplace. Andre and the Stasi officer, Schütz, watch her from the window on the second floor. The position of the characters indicates the power relations at this moment. Barbara is a new doctor in the village who has been recently demoted from the most prominent hospital in Berlin and she is in a new place where she knows no one. Barbara is placed in a relatively powerless position in this scene when she is watched unawares by Andre, a doctor who has already integrated into the village and is supposedly collaborating with Stasi, and a Stasi office, who represent state authority and power over people (Pinfold 2014). Barbara’s vulnerability is exhibited in the scenes, which show she is visited by the Stasi officer. She is visited twice in her apartment throughout the film. The process of the visits includes not only questioning and going through her belongings but also cavity search. She is thoroughly searched when she comes home late and after Stella escapes from the Torgau Juvenile Workhouse. According to the time when the Stasi officers come to Barbara’s place, then the time she comes home and her relationship with Stella is watched and reported to the Stasi by the superintendent at her apartment and Andre or other colleagues. Barbara is forced to stand against the wall in her own home while Schütz sits amidst Barbara’s clothes on the floor and other Stasi agents carry on their search and investigation. Barbara’s vulnerability peaks during the second visit of the Stasi agents. When she hears the agent who conducts cavity search knocking on the door, Schütz asks her to open the door without any emotion, she begs Schütz in a shivering voice, yet Schütz remains emotionless and the cavity search carries on subsequently. However, the relation of power reverses in the film when Barbara goes to Schütz’s to look for Andre, while he attends Schütz’s sick wife in bed. Barbara comes in uninvited when Schütz sits vulnerably in the room. His vulnerability is exposed to Barbara, the woman whom he once inflicted terror upon when he is being watched by Barbara emotionlessly from a distance. Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler in the Lives of the Others works with mechanical efficiency. His function as an agent of oppression is enforced through the presentation of the absence of a personal life. Unlike Wiesler, the character of Schütz is enriched with a family life besides his profession as a Stasi agent. Schütz carries both occupations as a man, who is capable of love and feelings, and a functional Stasi agent when he carries on missions at Barbara’s apartment. Furthermore, cultural reference is used in Barbara to recreate a relatively more authentic experience of GDR and enrich the characters in Barbara with complexity. I Andre in Barbara is an admirer of art. He attempts to connect with Barbara by discussing Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicholaes Tulp. He also enjoys literature and music. When Barbara comes to his apartment, he has photographs and paintings of different styles hanging on his wall, and a piano standing in the living room. Instead, the Lives of the Others presents GDR as a cultural wasteland where the only artworks allowed are those that praise the regime (Fisher 2013). The Legend of Rita has a conclusively pessimistic ending as the protagonist, who is the personification of socialist ideals, is shot dead at the end of the film with two lines of text appearing on the screen: “Alles ist so gewesen. Nichts war genau so.” (This is how everything was, more or less). Unlike the Legend of Rita, Barbara has an open ending and it raises more questions than it answered. The film ends with Barbara returning to the hospital breathing heavily after sending Stella off to Denmark. There is no dialogue between Barbara and Andre in the hospital. Many questions are left to the audience, such as how will the relationship between Andre and Barbara develop after she missed Mario’s operation and is suspected of assisting a fugitive from the Torgau Juvenile Workhouse escape the country. In conclusion, both the Legend of Rita and Barbara challenge the public narratives of the history of the former GDR set up and reinforced by the Lives of the Others with different approaches. The Legend of Rita arouses sympathy for the protagonist and the end of the political ideals that Rita upholds. The film challenges the common image of GDR as a political failure and presents the ideals as brave and revolutionary. Barbara, on the other hand, focuses on the complexity of East German society other than politics. The film reconstructs the GDR in colour and warmth with elaborated complexity of characters and enriching cultural references. It does not only challenge the familiar narrative of the GDR history as simply Stasiland but also avoids the conventional discourse of GDR as an extinct political system and recreates the individuality of the memories of professional and personal lives in former East Germany with the foregrounding of Barbara’s love story. And through Barbara’s narrative, the people who once lived in GDR are more than a collective object to the oppression of Stasi in history, but a group of individuals who have their very own stories.