Trudy’s Promise

It’s been three months since East Berliner Trudy Hulst saw her husband, Rolf, a political activist who fled to the West just ahead of the Stasi in the early 1960s. So when the Stasi summons her for interrogation, she knows what’s in store. With the help of Rolf’s friend Wolfgang, now a state policeman, Trudy escapes to West Berlin, only to find out that her husband was shot and killed while he was going over the wall. Trudy finds a room in a dingy boarding house, works as a waitress and bides her time until her young son and his grandmother can join her. But when President Kennedy comes to town, Trudy’s story so captivates a member of the presidential entourage that he takes her to America as a symbol of the Cold War’s devastation. Meanwhile, Wolfgang’s ties to the Hulsts put his career and his life in jeopardy. Though the portrayal of deprivation and suffering in East Berlin is by-the-numbers, Trudy’s struggle to adapt to the free world is refreshing, particularly her experiences in 1960s America. (Mar.)