Uncertainty In The Film Germany Year Zero

As Nichols explains, the relationship between form and content in a film expands the abstract ideas of a film into solid, concrete figures. Providing concrete representations of these otherwise intangible figments solidifies these ideas for the viewer. The director of Germany Year Zero tackles many abstract concepts and provides them with a physical representation. One strong concept throughout the film is uncertainty. Directly after World War II was a very ambiguous time for the people of Germany; their cities had been left in ruins. Roberto Rossellini uses the ruins of the city to show the uncertainty of the people’s surroundings. They were living in a city where buildings were in shambles, homes were destroyed, and there was no way of knowing when their current surroundings would be altered again. Rossellini frequently pans over the city’s ruins with a wide, long shot to solidify the feelings of the people of Germany. The lighting Rossellini uses throughout the film also

The overwhelming amount of uncertainty is vividly represented by each characters chaotic actions. No one can be certain about the effects of the war on Karl-Heinz, they don’t know what he’s experienced or if he will ever recover from it; this is why Edmund feels he needs to provide in place of his older brother. Similarly, Eva feels she needs to be the caregiver because their only parent is deathly ill. The constant state of not knowing what will come next is something all viewers can relate to. Many viewers have likely had an ill family member or less than ideal living situations at one time or another and therefore, they can make sense of the character’s actions in these extreme