Critics reviews

[The German Sisters] excavates, with intellectual rigor and emotional complexity, the legacy of Nazism and the troubling ambivalence exemplified by the “economic miracle” and bourgeois capitalist culture of West Germany... [It] is something of a throwback, sitting alongside the 1970s masterpieces of German cinema even though it does so at a remove and with a retrospective posture.

A disturbing mosaic of personal and state histories... [The German Sisters] is a bold assertion of the continuity of history from the culture most willing to deny it, and fine, accessible political film-making.

It is a highly intelligent and profound story set against the politics of Cold War West Germany, but is as meaningful and poignant today as it was when it was made... The film contains one of the most unforgettably moving yet simple scenes in cinema: Juliane visits her terrorist sister in jail, and in a gesture of affection she swaps her warmer sweater with her freezing little sister's.

It contains sharply memorable characterizations and some oddly affecting episodes. And the leading actresses, particularly Miss Lampe, are utterly convincing in their grief, their anger, and their troubled yet enduring love.