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Berlin. A haunting drama about a woman plotting to escape communist East Germany and a story of hardened Italian inmates who stage Shakespeare behind bars were tipped to win the Berlin film festival on Saturday, while Indonesian entry “Postcards from the Zoo” received poor reviews.

While the 11-day event failed to produce a front-runner like last year’s harrowing Iranian family drama “A Separation,” which captured the Golden Bear top prize and is now nominated for two Oscars, critics found several gems.

“Barbara” by Germany’s Christian Petzold stars his frequent muse Nina Hoss as a doctor banished from Berlin to a rural clinic after she applies to the authorities for the right to leave the communist East for good.

Once there, she is drawn to a friendly doctor who may or may not be working for the Stasi secret police and she begins to question her plan to flee.

The tautly paced film topped reviewers’ polls in both the British trade magazine Screen International and the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel. Industry bible Variety called the picture a “subtle thrill”.

In a close second place was “Caesar Must Die” by Italy’s veteran film-makers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, a docu-drama about inmates at a high-security prison in Rome putting on a production of “Julius Caesar”.

Critics also swooned over Portuguese film-maker Miguel Gomes’s “Tabu”, an inventive two-part black-and-white melodrama set in contemporary Lisbon and colonial Mozambique about an illicit love affair.

Danish costume drama “A Royal Affair”, starring James Bond villain Mads Mikkelsen in the true story of the physician of mad king Christian VII who seduces his queen and with her conspires to introduce reforms inspired by the Enlightenment, drew cheers.

Another stand-out was “Sister”, about a young Swiss boy who steals skis from a posh Alpine resort to support himself and his older sibling, which included a dramatic twist that packed an emotional punch.

And critics also praised “Just the Wind” about Roma killings in Hungary and “War Witch”, a Canadian production about a child soldier filmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Both films starred amateur actors and appealed to the kind of politically driven, activist cinema frequently rewarded at the Berlinale, the first major European film festival of the year.

Another of the three German entries, “Mercy”, sharply divided critics, with some calling the tale of forgiveness and redemption set in the Arctic Circle a masterpiece and others dismissing its plot as implausible.

And Wang Quan’an’s ambitious epic “White Deer Plain” about the bloody upheavals in the Chinese countryside before the rise of communism also provoked ambivalent reviews.

Two keenly awaited pictures, the festival opener “Farewell My Queen” starring Diane Kruger as Marie Antoinette and “Captive” featuring Isabelle Huppert as an aid worker kidnapped by Islamist rebels in the Philippines, proved critical disappointments.

And there were a handful of duds including Billy Bob Thornton’s first directorial effort in more than a decade, “Jayne Mansfield’s Car”, an all-star Vietnam-era movie.

It produced a few big laughs during the screening, including a scene featuring Robert Duvall on an accidental LSD trip, but the Hollywood Reporter called it a “general shambles”.

And Spanish supernatural thriller “Childish Games” left many to wonder how it had won a competition slot.

Indonesian entry “Postcards from the Zoo” by director Edwin received mixed to poor reviews.

Variety described “Kebon Binatang” as a “languid, dreamlike study of an abandoned naif taking a few tentative steps outside the wild-animal park that has been her lifelong home and refuge.”

“Chinese-Indonesian writer-director Edwin’s follow-up to 2008’s ‘Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly’ casts a melancholy spell in individual moments and tableaux, but there’s a distanced, self-consciously stilted quality to this contempo fairy tale that keeps it from entrancing entirely,” reviewer Justin Chang wrote. “A fest tour and niche distribution in select offshore territories look likely; the hippos could help.”

The Hollywood Reporter said the “experimental narrative offers a pleasant but tedious safari.”

“No animals were harmed in the making of Postcards From the Zoo (Kebun Binatang), but many a viewer may find their patience tested by this idiosyncratic slice of magical realism from Indonesian auteur Edwin,

“Starting off as a rather laid back tour of the Ragunan Zoo – a massive wildlife and amusement park in South Jakarta – the minimalist narrative meanders its way to weirder and darker places alongside a mysterious heroine yet fails to bring its menagerie to life.”

Contenders at 62nd Berlin film festival

The 62nd Berlinale, the first major European film festival of the year, will present its Golden Bear top prize Saturday to one of 18 contenders from around the world.

A jury led by British director Mike Leigh will present the awards at a gala ceremony starting at 1800 GMT. All the competition entries were world premieres.

Here is the complete list including the English title, director and countries where the films were produced:

“Barbara”, Christian Petzold. Germany.

“Caesar Must Die” (Cesare deve morire), Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. Italy.

“Captive”, Brillante Mendoza and starring Isabelle Huppert. France/Philippines/Germany/Britain.

“Childish Games” (Dictado), Antonio Chavarrias. Spain.

“Coming Home” (A moi seule), Frederic Videau. France.

“Farewell My Queen” (Les adieux a la Reine), Benoit Jacquot, starring Diane Kruger. France/Spain. (opening film)

“Home For The Weekend”, Hans--Christian Schmid. Germany.

“Jayne Mansfield’s Car”, Billy Bob Thornton and starring Thornton, Robert Duvall, John Hurt and Kevin Bacon. Russia/United States.

“Just The Wind” (Csak a szel), Bence Fliegauf. Hungary/Germany/France.

“Mercy” (Gnade), Matthias Glasner. Germany/Norway.

“Meteora”, Spiros Stathoulopoulos. Germany/Greece.

“Postcards From The Zoo” (Kebun binatang), Edwin. Indonesia/Germany/Hong Kong/China.

“A Royal Affair” (En Kongelig Affaere), Nikolaj Arcel. Denmark/Czech Republic/Germany/Sweden.

“Sister” (L’enfant d’en haut), Ursula Meier. Switzerland/France.

“Tabu”, Miguel Gomes. Portugal/Germany/Brazil/France.

“Tey” (Aujourd’hui), Alain Gomis. France/Senegal.

“War Witch” (Rebelle), Kim Nguyen. Canada.

“White Deer Plain” (Bai lu yuan), Wang Quan’an. China.

Additional reporting JG