Word: maria
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Maria Braun, epitome of the country's post-war "economic miracle," proves that Germany cannot only survive, but flourish. "I prefer making miracles to waiting for them," she stoutly adjures. Married in 1944 for half a day and a whole night, her soldier-husband Herman Braun (Klaus Lowitsch) is sent off to the Russian front. Maria pledges unfailing devotion to Herman--a silent, morose type--yet her notion of love takes on strange forms...
...absence Maria does not pine away. Rather, she pawns her mother's brooch, buys a slinky black dress, and begins work at a "night-club" for American G.I.s. There, she meets up with Bill (George Byrd), a chubby black soldier who becomes starstruck by her while slow-dancing to the tunes of Benny Goodman...
Clearly, in post-war Germany, survival emerges the prime consideration. Bill provides Maria an ample quantity of chocolate, silk stockings, and affection; he beseeches her to marry him. Maria playfully hedges; she is ever in control of the situation. "I am fond of you, Bill, but I love my husband," she declares solemnly, insisting upon the appellation of "Mrs. Braun...
Still, Herman has not come back from the Front; he is believed dead. Then one day, as Maria and Bill are about to dive into bed, Heman materializes in the bedroom doorway. Lowitsch, iron-jawed, taciturn, renders the strange tableau one of the most powerful scenes in the movie. He tussels with the black soldier, and Maria clobbers Bill--fatally--with a bottle...
...ENSUING TRIAL, stolid Herman takes the rap and goes to prison in Maria's stead. For her part, she comes to visit him daily and swears loyalty to their new life once he is freed. Fassbinder deftly mingles pathos with farce in teary scenes as the couple communicates through bars during prison visiting hours...