Schlöndorff offers a gripping study of a West German terrorist and a convincing portrait of everyday life in East Germany, portrayed without bias or the customary clichés. For Rita Vogt (Bibiana Beglau) and her comrades, the seventies represented a time when justice and love were worth fighting for. But years later, as their movement fractures, Rita opts to go underground and begins a new, proletarian life in the East. She forms an intense friendship with cynical, hard-drinking Tatjana (Nadja Uhl), a fellow outsider as eager to escape her old existence as Rita is to embrace her new one. Magnetic performances garnered a shared Best Actress Award at the Berlin Film Festival.