Ties That Bind, The

“The Ties That Bind” tells the story of a woman who lived in Germany during the Second World War, and like most Germans has had to pay the price ever since for letting Hitler’s actions continue unchallenged. This woman is the narrator of the film as well as the filmmaker’s mother. “The best of New Directors/New Film Festival…The film is an original: a moving and courageous tribute from a achild to a mother’s beleaguered memory.” – David Edelstein, The Village Voice, April 1985 “‘The Ties That Bind’ is a scrutiny both of a mother/daughter relationship and the demands of natural identity. That the nation delineating this identity is Germany in the ‘30s and ‘40s curiously multiplies the problematics of nationalism; ‘The Ties That Bind’ are not only the supposed benevolences of motherhood, but also the repressive dictates of the Fatherland.” – Barbara Kruger, Artforum