My Mother's Courage

Michael Verhoeven adapts the autobiographical story written by renowned Hungarian Jewish author George Tabori. This satirical and darkly funny film about fate and human indifference centers on a day in the life of Tabori's mother, Elsa (played by British actress Pauline Collins) in Nazi-held Budapest. We follow Elsa from her routine shopping to arrest and deportation. While at first offering no resistance, Elsa begins to struggle against her fate. Bolstered by the memory of the love of her family, she takes a courageous stand that saves her life. 1995 Toronto Film Festival, 1996 Berlin Film Festival.

Born in Berlin in 1938 and trained for a career in medicine, Verhoeven developed a unique voice in post-war Germany. While some denied and others chose to forget, Verhoeven risked popular opinion by daring to tell the truth. He was the first West German director to raise the issues of German resistance against the Nazis in THE WHITE ROSE, and how modern-day citizens are repressing the truth in THE NASTY GIRL. Verhoeven completed his trilogy by telling the miraculous and true story of how one woman saved herself from deportation in MY MOTHER'S COURAGE. While the 50th anniversary of the fall of Hitler was marked with messages of healing between Germans and Jews, Daniel Goldhagen's recently published book, HITLER'S WILLING EXECUTIONERS emphasizes the complicity of ordinary Germans with the war. By contrast, Verhoeven tells the little known stories of resistance and of modern-day Germans seeking a relationship with the past.