The search for the Mother/Land in Sanders-Brahms's Germany, Pale Mother (1980)

Like many recent West German films by female directors, Helma Sanders-Brahms's Germany, Pale Mother (Deutschland, bleiche Mutter) is relatively unknown in America. Unable to promote themselves as successfully as their male counterparts, the critically acclaimed exponents of “New German Cinema,” German women filmmakers have been producing their features in far from optimal conditions and often at expense to themselves. (The notable exception is, of course, Margarethe von Trotta, who has a considerable arthouse following in the US.) While Sanders-Brahms has been more fortunate than most of her peers, she has nonetheless not received the recognition she deserves.