Barbara (Christian Petzold, 2012)

Barbara, a doctor from Berlin, arrives in a provincial East German town in 1980, banished for some slight against the authorities and now continually harassed by the Stasi. She cuts a spikily guarded and nervous figure at first, until a doctor and a troubled young patient at her new hospital begin to melt her barriers. Nevertheless, all the while she is plotting to escape to the West with the aid of her wealthy lover on the other side.
Barbara is a solid accompaniment to the other internationally successful film of recent years about the oppressiveness of the DDR regime, The Lives of Others, but very much its own creature. While the eventual softening of the main protagonist and denouement may be foreseeable, the route there is roundabout and takes unexpected turns, with the dialogue in the interplay between the two doctors in particular laced with a fine subtext and numerous scenes making subtle allusions to larger themes. Nina Hoss is also excellent as the lead, understatedly emoting the pain within.

8/10