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5.0étoiles sur 5
Accepted History, Jui 6 2004
I viewed this film for a historiography seminar - a study of the study of history. "The Nasty Girl" is a crazed but shrewd look at how new theories are first subverted and then accepted by the historical community, oftentimes because of its symbiotic relationship with the governing class. As Sonya comes of age, her native West Germany is the metaphoric heart of the Cold War. Apropos of this, she writes a
prize-winning essay on the history of Democracy in Europe and confirms her position among family and mentors of a very clever, but more importantly, very good girl - a classic conformist. The next year she enters another essay contest, this time on her hometown during the Third Reich. She discovers that her hometown, which claimed to be a lonely wartime bastion of anti-Nazism, worked with Hitler's regime. Though Sonya is unable to complete the essay, her curiosity is piqued, and leads to her chosen major of History and Thelogy that will culminate in the book/thesis that brings her town's sins to light. To the town fathers and other dangerous charachers, all this makes Sonya a nasty girl after all. The film is very good. All sorts of devices - speaking to the camera, praying to trees, using trucks for the sets of rooms, even an inside joke on the controversy over the director's previous film (OK!), are utilized. I have heard "The Nasty Girl" compared to Brecht. It is absurdist hilarity tied to a great cause. Sonya is terrorized by those who disagree with her, but her ultimate moment of peril - and her only of self-doubt - is when her theories are finally accepted. Is she being co-opted? A fine parable for students who aspire to enter into the profession.
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4.0étoiles sur 5
Hooray For All Nasty Girls, Mai 12 2004
This film by Michael Verhoeven is about a Bavarian schoolgirls's (Sonya) quest to find out the truth behind her small village's history and involvement behind the Third Reich. The film gives a chilling depiction of how partriarchal institutions and powerful individuals in control will use any means to neutralize any seroius threats brought against them. Surprisingly enough, Nasty Girl is one of few films that depict a woman as being single-mindedly obsessed by the pursuit of the facts. This kind of discourse has always been reserved for males. Several times Sonya is almost diverted from her quest by the temptations society dangles in front of women to keep us in our places. Sonya even receives this kind of pressure from her own husband.Verhoeven does an excellent job of depicting the panoptical regime Sonya is objectified to in the film. There are a number of scenes in the film in which they are filmed on the back of a moving, open-top truck dressed up to resemble a family sitting room. There are no walls which hint at Sonya's lack of protection for herself and her family. Everyone is able to see into her actions without her being able to see into theirs. It is only until she is able to get hold of the facts that are intentionally being withheld from her that she is able to regain control. This allows for the walls to reappear around Sonya and her family. The Nasty Girl is a wonderfully constructed (with heavy use of many cinematic visual techniques) film that follows the journey of a highly ambitious woman towards the truth behind her homeland's history. Ironically, there is nothing "nasty" about this film...well maybe the kiss Sonya and her schoolteacher share in the film, but that's another review...
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5.0étoiles sur 5
My view on "The Nasty Girl", Mai 12 2004
"The Nasty Girl," directed by Michael Verhoven, is a German film about a woman, Sonya Rosenberger, trying to find the truth behind her Bavarian town's hidden past. Everything about Sonya's town appears pleasant and quaint as she is growing up until she begins digging into its history during the Third Reich. While Sonya's search encounters obstacle after obstacle, the town's pristine appearance fades. Secrets of clergymen ratting out Jews to the Nazis, concentration camps, and other scandals upset the townspeople when their true identities are revealed by Sonya.
For the ordinary viewer, "The Nasty Girl" may seem more of an avant-garde film. However, there is much meaning behind the way Sonya is portrayed through her own actions and the actions of the town. Sonya feels the gaze of everyone in the town, as her every move is documented and judgments are cast against her. In his book, Ways of Seeing, John Berger's idea of the surveyed, being Sonya, and the surveyor, being the townspeople, is beautifully displayed in scenes of the film where her world and pursuit for the truth is known by all the townspeople. The film may also seem different because Sonya's character does not fit the Hollywood stereotype of a "perfect" woman. She is not typified as a tall blonde who acts in a "girlie" manner or is purely a sexual object. She has her own set of values and beliefs that she holds strongly to, even though others might try to scare or hurt her. Sonya is a rare kind of woman in film because looks like any other woman and endures many hardships like any other woman. Overall, this is a highly recommendable film for those who enjoy thinking beyond what is on the screen.
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