"Comedian Harmonists" or "The Harmonists" is a German(-language) film from 1997, so this one will have its 20th anniversary next year. The director is Joseph Vilsmaier and the script comes from Jürgen Büscher and Klaus Richter. If you know a bit about History, especially German history of the 20th century, then you will maybe also heard of the Comedian Harmonists, a music group who were really famous in the first half of the century with their a capella music. They probably weren't the most talented singers in terms of range or particularly high notes or volume of their voices, but they found their niche and succeeded in entertaining the audiences with funny texts and a little bit of wisdom too. The big problem: They were Jewish.
This film won big at the German Film Award, including lead actor for Noethen and supporting actress for Becker. Her brother Ben also plays in here and their dad Otto Sander has a brief cameo too. And last but not least the movie won German Film of the Year, even if it was not picked as Germany's submission to the Oscars back then. Maybe the Harmonists just weren't known enough abroad or they were scared that the Hamonists would fail again in the United States as their attempts to make it there were not successful, after they had to leave Germany. I personally like some of the songs of this band that the film is about. But not all of them are used in here. I would say the music is the only aspect that was pretty good in here. The acting was mostly forgettable I felt and the script also wasn't great.
I do not think that this film really stands out compared to all the other many many German films that are about the days of Hitler Germany. I think they missed a chance here as the Comedian Harmonists were a pretty unique band, still are today and people here in Germany know them very well and many still like them with their wit and nice texts. Sadly, they did not really manage to elaborate on all the Harmonists convincingly. I just did not care about some of them at all. And they also could have been played by better actors. Ferch is mostly forgettable and Becker is very much in your face, but lacks subtlety and it's also not a good performance. Noethen is decent, but not really awards-worthy. The rest is entirely forgettable and this makes me especially sad in Schafmeister's case as I quite like him. This film certainly goes on long enough to deliver a convincing film and make every character count, but the screenwriters did not succeed. Many people consider this Vilsmaier's most known, possibly best work, but I cannot agree. It dragged on too many occasions and the nice music alone is not enough. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
This film won big at the German Film Award, including lead actor for Noethen and supporting actress for Becker. Her brother Ben also plays in here and their dad Otto Sander has a brief cameo too. And last but not least the movie won German Film of the Year, even if it was not picked as Germany's submission to the Oscars back then. Maybe the Harmonists just weren't known enough abroad or they were scared that the Hamonists would fail again in the United States as their attempts to make it there were not successful, after they had to leave Germany. I personally like some of the songs of this band that the film is about. But not all of them are used in here. I would say the music is the only aspect that was pretty good in here. The acting was mostly forgettable I felt and the script also wasn't great.
I do not think that this film really stands out compared to all the other many many German films that are about the days of Hitler Germany. I think they missed a chance here as the Comedian Harmonists were a pretty unique band, still are today and people here in Germany know them very well and many still like them with their wit and nice texts. Sadly, they did not really manage to elaborate on all the Harmonists convincingly. I just did not care about some of them at all. And they also could have been played by better actors. Ferch is mostly forgettable and Becker is very much in your face, but lacks subtlety and it's also not a good performance. Noethen is decent, but not really awards-worthy. The rest is entirely forgettable and this makes me especially sad in Schafmeister's case as I quite like him. This film certainly goes on long enough to deliver a convincing film and make every character count, but the screenwriters did not succeed. Many people consider this Vilsmaier's most known, possibly best work, but I cannot agree. It dragged on too many occasions and the nice music alone is not enough. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.