Following The Marriage of Maria Braun, Fassbinder created another picture of life in Nazi Germany, focusing on a woman who is both participant in and victim of the life of her times. Schygulla portrays the singer whose famous rendition of the song “Lili Marleen” became as popular with the besieged and dying troops of Germany as it did with those on the Soviet side. This lush and incisive production both critiques and sympathizes with the state of mind of common people who are subject to powerful cultural forces.