«They're coming to get you, Barbara» may be a famous quote from a totally different movie, however, for this film's Barbara the quote is too true.
The size of the resources the former nation of DDR spent spying on their own citizens is hard to fathom. Even in the most insignificant places there were always people employed by the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, ready to monitor every minute of people's everyday lives. There really was no way of telling right away with whom one could speak freely. Because of that, people seldom did. And even if someone opened up, others could just as easily interpret that as a false invite.
Barbara is a doctor who, in the eyes of the regime,…