What kind of picture of post-war German society does Fassbinder¡¦s film provide? What are the underlying social and political conflicts (or central issues) that Fassbinder ¡V through the artistic expression of the film ¡V confronts? Please feel encouraged to concentrate on one aspect that seems critical to you. For instance,you could focus on one of the following questions (however, if you consider another aspect to be more important, please do not hesitate to take a different approach to the general questions raised above): What are the most important conflicts that Maria Braun has to face when trying to succeed in post-war German society? In what way does the pre-45 period have a determining impact on Germany in the immediate post-war years? Considering the life of Maria Braun, what is the role of women - represented by the main female actress - in German society after 1945? In the end, Fassbinder decides to let Maria Braun and her husband die in a tragic accident; why is there no happy end? What does this ending tell us about how the story of Maria Braun can be interpreted with a view the first decade after the War?