Marriage of Maria Braun
Maria Braun is a vulnerable young woman who becomes self-confident, independent and competent survivor and is portrayed to be Sensual and tough. She marries a soldier in the middle of World War II and spends a half of day and the whole night with him. That's how long her marriage lasts before she loses him to the war and then to prison. But she is not let down by these events. Instead she carries on with her life progresses and the day comes when she becomes a successful businesswoman. While climbing up the ladder of success she never forgets her husband. The thought is always in her mind that she is doing everything for her husband. Maria begins with a nothing and slowly rises to become the pure and real embodiment of the German economic miracle. Her character is intended to be the manifestation of post-war German neurosis. Maria is can be compared to Germany which is trying to rebuild itself after the destructions of war. Like Germany, Maria has no other choice but to move forward ahead. In the beginning of the film it is shown that the Germans became emotionless, either because of their refusal to mourn, or because they are in denial of their past. Maria sets aside her private life and her feelings and works towards reaching her main goal, which is to achieve wealth, typically characteristic of the Economic Miracle that happened Germany in the post-World War era. Although some might believe that there was a decline in moral values, but monetary profits increased manifolds. But in the process, just like Maria, the Germans forgot their past. Just like Germany, Maria too, surrounded herself in wealth, by losing her mind and soul, in an unsuccessful attempt to cope with her past.
While Maria was getting married to Herman Braun, the wedding ceremony was disrupted as bombs fell and the wedding party had to take refuge. In the end, when Oswald’s will is executed and the details of the arrangement between Herman and Oswald are told to Maria, she is almost emotionless and it feels like she is completely disconnected with her past. She lights a cigarette and dies from an explosion of gas after. The explosion happens because she had extinguished the pilot of the stove from which she had lighted the previous cigarette and this causes the huge explosion. So what started with an explosion, ends with an explosion too.