Tolstoy wrote that all happy families are happy in the same way. Unhappy families are unhappy in their own ways. The filmmaker comes from a troubled Viennese Jewish family which was dislocated by the Nazis. While in Berlin to make a documentary on what was called "the new German identity", she becomes obsessed with Germany's history of cruelty. Memories of her childhood in America recur, troubling memories of a brother who bullied her mercilessly. And in probing her parents about yet a third sibling, she uncovers a family secret about the fate of their Down syndrome child. Do the family secrets reflect on the turbulent times they fled? Going deeper and deeper in ever more troubling waters, the filmmaker manages to emerge with a more hopeful vision. This moving and complex film will have a lasting impact in Holocaust studies as well as women's studies, psychology, mental disabilities, and family dynamics.
Note
Originally released as DVD. Title from resource description page (viewed May 24, 2011).
Audience
For High School; College; Adult audiences.
Awards
American Women in Psychology, 2000 Berlin Film Festival, 1999 Doubletake Documentary Film Festival, 2000 Out of That Darkness, London, 2000 San Diego Jewish Film Festival, 2000
