User reviews

Lost in Berlin is a beautiful story about a son's loving relationship with his aging mother and his quest for the truth about his maternal grandmother Suzette's life and death. Rod was able to weave the historic elements of his narrative into a smooth and cohesive flow, successfully integrating the lives of many different family members and those connected to them, into a stunning historical masterpiece. The film is rich in symbolism from the flower motifs signifying joy, innocence and beauty to the trains representing separation, pain and loss. The use of dark, light and shades of gray was very effective in enhancing the visual aspects of his film. Through the masterful narration of the story, I felt the gamut of emotions, from moments of joy, happiness and humor, to the fear, terror, hopelessness, desperation and deep sadness experienced by so many. The "golden thread" weaving throughout Rod's story is the love that he and Gerda shared and the love of family. Gerda was a remarkable woman with an extraordinary history. We witness both the tender and sweet moments of their bond as well as the darker side of her life and aging. I highly recommend Rod Martels film as an artful and unforgettable walk through history as experienced by his family and so many others.

Rod Martel has created a tour de force with LOST IN BERLIN which might garner an Oscar for Best Documentary. This film is an odyssey for identity, memory, history, and psychology of another child of a Holocaust Survivor taking a personal journey he shares with the world. All Children of Holocaust Survivors share an emotional community with their tortured loved ones and among themselves. The deep feelings of life and death, fate and fear, courage and cowardice form the sinews of that power this emotional community exists and binds two generations together. Rod Martel captures this emotional community within his own family par excellence. The montage of historical footage from the 1920s and 1930s in Berlin and Germany melds neatly with his own family's 8mm record of family life in Chicago from the 1950s to take the viewer into one world of nightmarish proportions and banal optimism. The portrait of Greta in her last years and the bond she had with her son, leave an image in one's mind that is unforgettable and yet hopeful. A 'must-see' especially in our troubled times".

Joseph Richard Goldman is a historian of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. He taught Hitler's Germany for the Universities of Minnesota and Kansas and today for Temple Israel of Minneapolis. He is a child of Holocaust survivors and wrote a collection of Shoah stories called VOICES FROM A DISTANT TIME, A DARK PLACE taken from family and witness survivors.

Martel created a moving film about his family history, his mother's tragic struggle with dementia and his own journey of processing both of these traumas. There are several interesting threads that are woven together in the film. One focuses on Martel's maternal grandfather, famed cinematographer Karl Freund, who had a successful career first in the Weimar film industry and then in Hollywood. A second thread tells the story of Martel's parents' escape from Nazi Germany, and the tragic fate of his maternal grandmother who had stayed behind. A third thread follows the postwar life of this family in the United States and the ways that the burdens of the past shaped the familial dynamics. And lastly, the thread that documents his care for his ailing mother, and the confrontation with the illness that slowly robbed her of her memories. The film tells a difficult story, but does so with a lot of humanity and love.

This was a fascinating, unpredictable, and deeply moving experience. Martel's ability to illuminate so many disparate aspects of his family's story while maintaining a human perspective on historical events is especially impressive. It is a document of Gerda's resilience, but also of her humor and of the love others had for her.

Martel's narration is clear, informative, and subtly provides his own commentary on living under the weight of the past.

His life journey intertwined with his mother's Jewish heritage. Including her mother's murder at the hands of Hitler's regime and her famous Hollywood father's lack of compassion. How gifts and daggers run through our veins without our permission and get handed down throughout generations. Concealing what cannot be exposed to ourselves, let alone to others. The remarkable story telling, artistic cinematography, research and elaborate collection of past film footage and photos combines to create a deeply moving and impactful family history. Complete with the blessing his mother received of forgetfulness as the great protector. I imagine her agonizing dissent toward a man who would not even try to save her mother. Her reference to him by his first name tells the story between the spoken words. I find this space to be even more captivating than the story itself. As all amazing teller's do, they lead you to places you yourself are contemplating going and allow you a glimpse of what's possible and maybe even a little nudge. We lift you up my friend in enormous praise and gratitude. In two words, simply brilliant!

A journey of love, that seeks to understand the pain of loss and injustice. The film shares intimate "home movies" and photos, as well as a glimpse into the life of a woman living with dementia in her advanced age. The blend of mediums is beautifully done, and gives the viewer a real personal connection to a family's joys and sufferings. Lost in Berlin is a beautifully personal tribute, from one son, to the grandmother he never met, and the mother who carried on with inner fragility and a strong voice.

I just watched "Lost in Berlin". It's really good, and so very professionally produced.

I really liked all these rare old footage. Martel must have spent thousands of hours collecting them.

And not to mention the story. Quite heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Incredible.

Job well done.

Like many people approaching their 60s and 70s, Rod Martel realized that there remained many questions about his family history and that the only hope of finding some answers rested with his 90-year-old mother. Unlike most of us, he did something about it and began talking with her and videotaping her as they talked about her life in Germany, California and the Canary Islands; about her mother and father, her grandmother and grandfather.

In some ways this is a familar story of a Jewish family in Berlin and the destruction the Nazis wrought. But it is also the story of love - love of a mother for her child, that child's love for her own children and the full turn of the circle in the love of those children for their mother and grandmother. This is a story of loss and the love which gave Rod the courage to discover the truth about that loss. It is a beautiful, lasting tribute to his mother and grandmother and a very personal addition to the body of Holocaust literature.

A unique life of a mother who fled Germany to Los Angeles CA and met many famous movie stars that her Father (Karl Freund) filmed for movies & TV.

Includes restored vintage 8mm movies of Gerta.

Interesting highlighting in color of individuals against a black & white picture. Accurate History dates & places. Finding cemetery tombstone of Leo Liepmannssohn in Germany. Her mother's tombstone engraved: Susette Freund, 1890-1942, Murdered in the Holocaust.

The background music for each scene was perfect as was the stunning color.

Aerial photographs were incredible. I thought a drone was used, but later saw the crew was actually on top of 5 story buildings.

"Lost in Berlin" is a thoughtful and moving tribute to Rod Martel's mother (Gerda), grandmother (Susette), and his family's experiences. There is a lot of shared experience among those whose families went through the Holocaust. I have always felt that it is important to tell all of their stories, given that (as we can see from what is going on in the world today), our collective memories can be rather short and (unfortunately) people do not always learn from the past. As such, there is always the need to be reminded of what can happen. I also feel that there is even more of an urgency to document and recount these stories, given that the population of Holocaust survivors is aging, and therefore there are fewer and fewer who are able to provide a firsthand account of the atrocities that took place during World War II, and the ways in which their lives (and their families' lives) were forever altered by those events.

This well researched film explores three generations of the filmmaker's family, his grandparents (those that escaped Germany and those that didn't), his mother (including her decline) and himself (the effects of the past and present). Rich in the use of light, color and symbolism, the viewer is drawn into both the joy and heartbreak of the documented lives. Mr. Martel presented a deeply personal story that touches experiences relatable to so many of us. Nice work!

Lost in Berlin is a very moving film and I watched it twice. It is very well done and I highly recommend this film to everyone. This beautiful film touched my heart deeply and I applaud Rod Martel for his amazing work.

The themes in Lost in Berlin were universal. Caring for an aging loved one and making tough decisions, capturing memory before it's gone, the legacy of trauma - through feelings of abandonment side by side with resilience and strength. I could feel the passion and emotion coming through in every scene.

Rod Martel's riveting documentary, Lost in Berlin, invites us along as he traces the fascinating life of his mother Gerda. Her story is a brilliant mosaic of candor, curiosity and complex contradictions. Music that paints backdrops from haunting to heavenly deepens the emotional impact. The contrasts of past and present, sweetness and sorrow, tears and smiles, heartbreak and hope zigzagged through my heart. All wrapped up in Love. Unforgettable!

A very moving film, which makes us relive a lost past with intensity and love. The alternation between the present and this disappeared past always transports us between drama and hope for the future. This film gave me the feeling of reconnecting with my family who had disappeared from Germany in tragic circumstances which were particularly well conveyed in this film.

We feel the love of a son for his mother and this quest to reconstruct a story that has not been told, no doubt because of the suffering that these memories evoked.

I saw it a second time with even more emotion than during my first viewing and I left with an indescribable emotion. Congratulation Rod!

With his mother Gerda's remarkable life story as a backdrop, Rod Martel takes viewers on an emotional journey connecting generations, historical events, and a lifetime of joy and sorrow. Using intriguing visuals, provocative metaphors, and an astounding collection of archival photos and videos, he embeds his mother's story in the truths of Berlin's holocaust horrors. It's a stark reminder told by real people, making it more than a history lesson, but an existence that can't be denied. This is a loving tribute to Rod's adorable mother, Gerda, and a reminder of a period in history that needs telling before it is forgotten. Rod has done that beautifully.

From the start Lost in Berlin takes you on a visual ride throughout life and history. An aging Gerda submits to the slowly fading memories blurred within dementia as her son, Rod, attempts to pluck them out of an almost lost abyss. Poetic narrated words of a vulnerable son carry this historical and unbelievable twisting turning family story shaped by the Holocaust.

The mix of words, visuals, history, and complexity come together to express the gripping emotions throughout the story. I found myself eager to know more, to learn more, to see more. The filmmaker brings his life into the viewer, captivating them til the end. Even though the story is his own, I found so many parallels within my life making this film a must see.

The movie is not only a history of one family, it's a triumph of love. Filmmaker transforms abstract words Love, Respect, Dignity, Compassion, Empathy into the feelings that go directly into the heart. Bravo Rod Martel, your movie is a masterpiece, a power of art.

I watched this film twice, with a month in between viewings. I also had the pleasure of speaking with Rod Martel, and learning about the challenges of making such a film for a first-time filmmaker.

The interwoven venues and people in the film were very well integrated and when all is said and done you have a beautiful tribute to Rod's mother, an explanation of what she lost from her seemingly idyllic childhood and early years in Berlin, a visual and touching demonstration of the way that dementia steals our memory, and a perspective and background on a number of family members.

The pictures and other references to the Holocaust were also interwoven with the other aspects of the film, and all were narrated very well by Mr. Martel.

I was very moved and totally immersed while watched this beautifully researched, in parts heartbreaking film. This film has many stories woven into it, a family making a life after being torn apart by The Holocaust, a n extraordinary tribute from a grandson to his grandmother as he goes to Germany and traces her final day at Bernburg Euthanasia Centre. The film is made with love, empathy.and humour for his family, in particular we see his beautiful relationship with his mother, who had to leave her beloved mother and was 'saved' from tragedy by a difficult father. I intend to watch the film again.

Absolutely amazing film filled with an everlasting story rippled with grief and anguish. Learned things that went on in history that should never be forgotten.

Lost in Berlin starts in Minneapolis where Rod Martel, the filmmaker, cares for his endearing, funny, 100-year-old mother, Gerda. She has late-stage dementia and her long-term memory is almost non-existent. Rod pieces together her backstory, beginning in Berlin through the social cultural constructs of Hitler's rise, his own research, and scattered chats with Gerda. Martel's grandfather is Karl Freund, an Oscar winning Hollywood cinematographer. Suzette Freund, his grandmother, is forced into Ravensbruck concentration camp. Martel effortlessly excavates several themes from the fracturing effects of the Holocaust and family trauma. It is an homage and a declaration of life. Martel also touches on other subjects underexplored in holocaust film. Homosexuality during the War and the blurring of German/Jewish identity. His cinematography is an incredible and generous work of art through nostalgic and absorbing film footage, music, and photos. It is a brave reveal for the sake of wholeness, identity, and security. An insightful filmmaker, gifted cinematographer, with a painful, tender, and personal story.

The documentary, Lost In Berlin, is a beautiful testament of a son's love and patience to his mother as she experiences her decline into darkness. It is also a deeply emotional Holocaust story.