A Child of Shame

Author(s): Maia
Location: Los Angeles, CA

“A Child of Shame"
A Focus Features Release

Written and Directed by Niki Caro

Principal Cast:

Catherine Keener as Martina Dahl
Naomi Watts as Helga Dahl
David Strathairn as Paul Krause

Tagline: “Emotions can haunt us for more than one lifetime”

Synopsis: The parallel story of two women, a mother and her daughter; during the Nazi occupation of Norway in the 40’s and its aftermath:

Oslo, Norway, 1982… Helga Dahl has just died and her only daughter Martina has never felt lonelier. Treated all her life as an outcast for being one of the few norwegians with dark hair and rough features, Martina always questioned her mother about her origins without getting any genuine answers. Now that she was gone, Martina was sure she’d never now the truth about her father and her heritage but she was wrong…

Drammen, Norway, 1942… Helga Dahl, a beautiful countryside girl; has just arrived to a Lebensborn camp, a Nazi breeding center designed for german soldiers to procreate “superior race” children with the local women. She has been taken from her village by command of the powerful Nazi official Paul Krause, a man obsessed with procreating a pure “Aryan” child to bring back with him to Germany. Helga becomes pregnant but her offspring turns out like nothing Krause would feel proud about: a baby girl with brown hair and dark eyes, more alike to him than to her blonde and pale mother. Disappointed, Krause goes back to Germany and leaves Helga and her newborn behind. Helga is liberated by the Nazis and sent to Oslo (where she has to battle hate and prejudice for being a “german whore”).

1982… Martina gets a letter from the government and discovers her mother’s secret. Disgusted at first, she soon realizes she must find the truth behind her silence and decides to look for her gone father. Aided by a close friend in Munich, Martina gets access to the Lebensborn files and finds Krause. Martina discovers he is retired in a small town near Stockholm, Sweden. She travels to meet him, only to find a dying man in bed. She introduces herself to him, expecting the worst, but his reaction is the complete opposite…

In the end, Martina is able to understand and forgive her gone mother and to learn about her past thanks to her dying father but most important, she learns to accept herself.

What the press would say:

Based on actual events, director Niki Caro (Whale Rider & North Country) explores the product of the Lebensborn phenomenon in Europe in “A Child of Shame,” a marvelous historical film toplined by the award-worthy Catherine Keener and the splendid Naomi Watts. Meaning “Fountains of Life” in german, the Lebensborn birth centers were created by the Nazis during World War II and they were established mainly in Norway because of the priced “Aryan” attributes of its population. Through a deeply studied and captivating screenplay, Caro brings us closer to the lives of Helga and Martina Dahl: two of the 20,000 victims of this lesser known side of the Nazi regime.

Catherine Keener is heartbreaking as the contemporary woman who must deal with her mother’s passing and the truth behind her origins. Keener is moving as the “war child” affected by the racial prejudice against her and who is unable to understand her own identity. Keener makes her character a fragile victim of many doubts and fears, making us a part of her quest for answers at the same time. Watts is memorable as Helga, she conveys the pain and struggle of one of the thousands of Nazi breeders that later became subject of discrimination in Norway and she is particularly astounding on the scenes where she must pretend she is not ashamed of having conceived a child with a german man and face the judgmental Oslo society. David Strathairn is also excellent as the Nazi leader Paul Krause, particularly on his final scenes with Keener.

In the end, the film’s title is a metaphor that fits each of the main characters’ reality, both Helga and Martina are doomed by the awareness of what they believe are their own flaws. They seem unable to realize though, that what brings them shame, should not. Strathairn’s Krause is also ashamed of the things he did in the past but as he finds some relief on confessing to Keener’s character, he can’t realize that he covers his embarrassment by hiding in another country.

The greatness of “A Child of Shame” lies on that fact, it presents the least wanted emotions as inherit part of our humanity and goes places where few films dare to go by letting the viewer decide if such emotions as shame can, or not, be perpetuated from generation to generation.

Consider this film for the following awards:

Best Picture (Genre: Drama/Historical)
Best Director: Niki Caro
Best Actress: Catherine Keener
Best Supporting Actress: Naomi Watts
Best Supporting Actor: David Strathairn
Best Adapted Screenplay – (Based on a BBC News Report): Niki Caro