A German professor (Mortensen) rises through the Nazi nomenclatura ranks before the onset of WW2, all the while seeing life becoming ever harder for his Jewish best friend and their relationship fraying as a result.
I was thoroughly disappointed with this movie, from the start it is difficult to understand what exactly is trying to be conveyed here. The creeping horror of the Jewish segregation mainly feels like a veneer but never feels heartfelt. The fact that Viggo M awkwardly acts the character of a coward throughout the film does not help. It is all too slow and too shallow, all the way to the end. Lead female's acting is wooden, the Jewish friend is barely fleshed out at all and his tempers feel phoney at best. Conversations are often trite and interaction between actors worse.
2 stars then, mainly for the beauty and realism of the renditions and the urban Berlin of the 30s, which prevent this from being un atter flop.
I was thoroughly disappointed with this movie, from the start it is difficult to understand what exactly is trying to be conveyed here. The creeping horror of the Jewish segregation mainly feels like a veneer but never feels heartfelt. The fact that Viggo M awkwardly acts the character of a coward throughout the film does not help. It is all too slow and too shallow, all the way to the end. Lead female's acting is wooden, the Jewish friend is barely fleshed out at all and his tempers feel phoney at best. Conversations are often trite and interaction between actors worse.
2 stars then, mainly for the beauty and realism of the renditions and the urban Berlin of the 30s, which prevent this from being un atter flop.