Zwei Leben (aka Two Lives) (2012)

In 1990 Norway, shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall and the unification of Germany, a woman (Juliane Kohler) is asked to testify against the Norwegian state on behalf of the Lebensborn war children of which she was one. They were the children of Norwegian mothers and German soldiers who were taken from their mothers by the Germans during WWII to be raised as wards of the Third Reich. Since she was one of the few to have escaped and reunited with her mother (Liv Ullmann), they feel she would be a strong witness. But she refuses to cooperate because of a dark secret that will have tremendous ramifications for her family as well as others if revealed. Based on the novel ICE AGES by Hannelore Hippe, this is a film rich with pathos and pain. It isn't hard to guess what the dark secret is, it's fairly easy so the film isn't so much about what the secret is but about how she will deal with it when it comes to light. It's an absorbing mystery that works both as a political thriller and a heartrending story of a family torn apart with a superb central performance by Kohler. Alas, the film's downbeat conclusion doesn't give us the catharsis we want. Directed by George Maas. With Sven Nordin, Ken Duken and Julia Bache Wiig.