Mothers, Comrades, and Outcasts in East German Women’s Films by Jennifer L. Creech (review)

The author applies Western feminist concepts to these DEFA films and in turn revisits those foundational concepts through the lens of socialist women’s films. Since feminism is a fraught concept in socialist countries, a feminist-oriented critique of the dominant socialist ideology is often covert. Winter adé uses the talking-head technique that allows “real women” to share their life stories and personal experiences of gender difference in daily life in the GDR. The memorable stories of Christine and Margarete, for example, have no place in the socialist discourse of harmony and would otherwise be silenced if not for Misselwitz’s film. [...]Winter adé succeeds in achieving the sense of authenticity and truthfulness for which it strives.