''The Nasty Girl'' () is a 1990 West German

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

based on the true story of Anna Rosmus. The film received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the

63rd Academy Awards The 63rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 25, 1991, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the cer ...

Plot

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

high school student, Sonja ( Lena Stolze as a fictionalised version of Anna Rosmus), wins an essay contest and embarks on a trip to Paris. Martin Wegmus begins teaching physics at Sonja's school, and one of her classmates falls in love with him. Almost by chance, Mr. Wegmus and Sonja share a kiss. The teacher promises to return for her. The following year, she enters the contest again, choosing "My Town During the Third Reich" from the available topics. Her research leads her to discover that her picture-perfect town had been intimately involved in the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

, with nearly all of the city's prominent families having been members of the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

long before it rose to power. As she delves deeper, local authorities stonewall her efforts. Undeterred, Sonja persists and learns that there were eight

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

in the area, and that all the Jews were forcibly expelled from the town and had their property confiscated. Sonja marries Martin, and the townsfolk believe she has abandoned her pursuit of uncovering Nazi involvement. Despite this, Sonja bears two daughters and pursues studies in history at the university. She resumes her research into the town's Nazi past and succeeds in winning court cases that grant her access to archives, although she still must resort to trickery to obtain desired information. The hostility of the townspeople escalates from verbal abuse to death threats and physical assaults as they endeavor to silence her with increasing desperation, but nothing dissuades her. Her husband feels emasculated as he is compelled to care for the children. The family survives a bomb attack, yet Sonja persists with her research. Ultimately, the townspeople change their stance, even going so far as to erect a bust of Sonja at the town hall. However, Sonja views this gesture as an attempt to silence her and rejects the honor.

Cast

* Lena Stolze as Sonja * Hans-Reinhard Müller as Juckenack * Monika Baumgartner as Sonja's mother * Elisabeth Bertram as Sonja's grandma * Michael Gahr as Paul Rosenberger * Robert Giggenbach as Martin * Fred Stillkrauth as Sonja's uncle * Barbara Gallauner as Miss Juckenack * Udo Thomer as Archivist Schulz

Awards

BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language The BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language is a film award given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 36th British Academy F ...

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

Silver Bear for Best Director The Silver Bear for Best Director () is an award presented annually at the Berlin International Film Festival since 1956. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Competition ...

(Michael Verhoeven) * New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

Award nominations

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...

, Berlin Film Festival *

Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by Dick Clark Productions to reward theatrically-released feature film not in the English language. It was first introduced at the 7th Golden Globe Awards f ...

References

External links