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Filmmaker Michael Verhoeven (not to be confused with
Showgirls director Paul Verhoeven) made one of the best films of the '80s with this bold, 1989 German production about an adolescent girl, Sonja (Lena Stolze of Verhoeven's
The White Rose), who researches the history of her hometown's involvement in the Holocaust. The "nasty" of the title doesn't refer to provocative behavior on the heroine's part but rather Sonja's sudden reputation as a busybody, stirring up dirt about her neighbors' sundry crimes against humanity and being rebuffed or punished at every turn. Verhoeven makes a number of inspired, artistic leaps in portraying Sonja's story (she grows up and is a married woman before her quest is complete) as an epic myth for post-war Germany. The director draws on thrilling performance ideas from Bertolt Brecht and pursues heavy visual stylization to bring an exciting immediacy to this tale of dangerous secrets. Topping it all off is Stolze's sharp, likable, smart acting.
--Tom Keogh
