Juliane, a feminist journalist, goes to see her younger sister Marianne who got arrested for her activities as part of a radical terrorist group. The two reflect on their childhood and argue when their opinions don't coincide. Then when Marianne is found dead in prison, Juliane questions her death.  This screen adaptation of the life of Gudrun Ensslin, who was a member of the Red Army Faction, focuses more on the friendship between Gudrun and her sister Christiane Ensslin rather than the activities of the Red Army Faction. It inserts flashbacks of newsreels from Night and Fog by Alain Resnais showing the horrors of the Third World, demonstrating the dark history of Germany which gave up humanity and demanding that the Germany society take responsibility. Director Margarethe von Trotta became the first woman to receive the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for this film. 

Margarethe von Trotta (1942~) Born in Berlin, Germany
Margarethe von Trotta, who started working in the film industry as an actress in the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlöndorff, is a female director who represents New German Cinema. She made her directorial debut in 1975 with the screen adaptation of The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Böll with her husband Schlöndorff as the co-director. She went on alone to direct The Second Awakening of Christa Klages, which became a critical and commercial success. She often dealt with themes such as 'abortion and birth control, the environment for female laborers, spousal abuse, and the traditional role of women' and directed Sisters, or the Balance of Happiness (1979), The German Sisters, and Love and Fear(1988), considered the 'Sisters Trilogy'. She is also known in Korea for her films about German philosophers Rosa Luxemburg(1986) and Hannah Arendt(2012).