'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria

female member of a conquered civilian population foreshadows the American soldiers‟
pursuit of Lene in the subsequent rape scene. Moreover, these scenes of newsreel footage
underscore for the audience the idea that the violence and destruction of war do not spare
civilians or their personal property. They work together with the sequence depicting
Lene‟s rape as a commentary on how, in times of war, conquered civilian populations,
especially conquered civilian women, lose rights of ownership not only over their
personal possessions but also over their bodies. As Sabine Smith explains, these scenes
function “as a commentary on the extent to which the war intrudes on civilians‟ private
(physical, i.e., bodily) space” (241).
In the first scene of the rape sequence a low-angle medium tracking shot shows
two drunken American GIs, with bottles of alcohol in hand, walking through a large
deserted urban building that resembles an abandoned factory or railway station. 39
Following the same pattern of movement as figures in the newsreel footage, the soldiers
appear at the far right-hand side of the screen and move from right to left and slightly
away from the camera, as if they were walking in a semi-circle around it. The camera
smoothly tracks their progression. This movement has the dual function of establishing
continuity with the previous shot and evoking a feeling of apprehension in the viewer.
One soldier says to the other in English, “Don‟t drink it all, for crying out loud”
(Deutschland, bleiche Mutter n. pag.). The soldiers suddenly lift their heads as if they
have seen someone. The camera continues to track and it reveals Lene and Anna walking
far in the distance on the right side of the screen. In this shot a pillar in the middle of the
39 Sanders-Brahms identifies the building in the accompanying film script as an abandoned freight yard in
Berlin. She states that “Die Ruinen sind die vom Anhalter Güterbahnhof hier in Berlin. Echte. Echte
Kriegsruinen, keine Filmruinen” (“The ruins are those of the [Saxony-]Anhalt freight yard here in Berlin.
[They are] real. Real war ruins, not film ruins”) (Helma Sanders-Brahms, Film-Erzählung 116).
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