Barbara's transfer

Just watched it. I missed any explanation also though the NetFlix summary is as such, In 1980 East Germany, Barbara, a doctor, is reassigned to a small rural hospital as punishment for trying to find work in the West. Biding time until her lover can help her defect, Barbara begins to suspect that her new boss knows of her plans.

"He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator."

I believe toward the end of the film Barbara mentions she applied to move to West Germany, that's what started the whole mess.

Doesn't seem like much, but the authorities looked at education as an investment to the state. I worked with a guy back in the 80's that escaped the Eastern Block a few years before. The State gave him and other kids aptitude tests at a pretty young age and their education was based on the results of these tests. After his test three choices were given; nuclear science, engineer, or medical doctor. He tested really well, but all the choices went against his personality type, (he was a funny guy, really, and too carefree to do any of his choices well). If he had tested well as a laborer it would have been relatively easy to cross the border, the state didn't spend the same amount of energy keeping track of those professions. A major result of this aptitude method was professionals that hated what they did and showed a lot of apathy toward their jobs.

I think this part of the movie was lost to the Western audience. We think in terms of working a job we don't like for the money it pays, not because we have to do it. The scenes with Andre going on rounds and observing the other doctors, and the scene where he actually made a house call off duty would have been very powerful to anyone used to the Eastern block. Here's a guy that actually loved what he was chosen to do and found the tools to do it; he would have liked to be back in a bigger city, but was really happy to live where he did - even if it was in the Eastern block. In the end, Barbara found she felt the same way. The choice between going to the West and living as a housewife, like as shown in the motel scene, or living in the East doing what she loved, was really what the movie was about. The love interest between Barbara and Andre was secondary to this. The movie doesn't end in loving embrace, but with both doctors smiling while they worked.

This is a deep movie on a lot of levels and should get more exposure.

They said her crime had lost her all her friends. Poor Babsy. And next stop interrogation.