The summer of 1942 was the most beautiful one for Hilde. Passionately in love with her best friend Hans and expecting their firstborn, she realises that in war, one must choose a side. Hans becomes involved in the Berlin anti-Nazi underground movement, the Red Orchestra – a group of students and young people driven by naive ideals. They encourage Hilde to join, and she is ready to take the risk. However, soon the Gestapo intercepts the group’s signals to Moscow, and both she and Hans are arrested. The young woman is forced to give birth to her son in prison. Driven by despair, she knows that time is running out – soon, she will be separated from her child permanently…

It’s hard to believe that the German classic Dresen, who just recently made audiences laugh with the docudrama Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush (2022), has flipped his directorial style around, finding new grounds to explore in the history of Germany and World War II and the portrayal of the Nazi regime. Premiered in the main competition at the Berlinale, this piece has garnered international fame and recognition from both audiences and critics, becoming one of the defining films of German cinema this year. It is based on the final year of the life of Hilde Coppi (1909–1943), a medical worker. The lead actress, Liv Lisa Fries (the occasional sex worker Lotte in the series Babylon Berlin (2017–)), with her magnetic fragility, brings to life a willpower that has the potential to rewrite more than one person’s fate.