"Albert Schweitzer" is a 110-minute live action film from 2009, so it's already over 5 years old. The director and one of the writer trio here is Gavin Millar, a TV BAFTA winning Scottish filmmaker. The title character is played by Jeroen Krabbé, but the most known cast member is probably Oscar nominee Barbara Hershey. It is a co-production between Germany and South Africa and the main language here is German. Probably almost everybody has heard the name Albert Schweitzer, but he is one of the guys where you know he's a good guy, but you don't really known very much in detail what it was exactly that made him one of the good guys except that it was charitable work. The good thing is that, in this film here, you will find out about it. The bad thing is that I don't think that justice was really done to the person. It is not really the fault of Krabbé or Hershey, but I just felt that the film was never really as interesting or even touching as it could have been if it had worked out. I am fairly certain that a better script could have made this a really exciting and significant film. Schweitzer would have deserved and I guess this weak script is also the reason why this film, actually the most known one about the character, is still extremely unknown. The world's biggest film site and it has less than 250 ratings and zero reviews. Enough said. It's especially sad to see three writers work on the project here and yet this is all they came up with. The cast includes a handful familiar faces too for German cinema buffs, such as Hain, Meyer, Ulrich or Rohde playing Albert Einstein. But these names also ting to me that this is a group of actors who is more known for their charisma than for great range. But this is just one of a whole lot of minor flaws that add up however and turn this into a film that is not memorable by any means. It also drags quite a bit and should have been shorter, more focused and more essential. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
3 Reviews
Reverence For Life
bkoganbing18 January 2017
Seeing Albert Schweitzer listed on Amazon Firestick as a Christian film I was expecting a totally different kind of film. But actually I'm glad it is. Some person of a fundamentalist bent might watch this film thinking that Schweitzer was one of them. If they learn something and start to question their own beliefs so much the better.
Jeroen Krabbe stars as Schweitzer with Barbara Hershey as his supportive wife. The film concerns the period of Schweitzer's life between 1949 and 1955 as he joins a movement to ban the atomic bomb and not to develop the hydrogen bomb. A lot of people were involved. Schweitzer, philosopher Bertrand Russell, and scientists Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Certain right wing elements did their best to destroy Schweitzer's reputation in many ways. He's in the USA to raise funds for his medical mission in the future African nation of Gabon. It's put to him bluntly, but subtly back off the ban the bomb activity and all kinds of money can come your way. Schweitzer does not bend.
Schweitzer was a true renaissance man. Not only a medical practicioner, but a classical musician, and a philosopher. He would have really gotten along with Thomas Jefferson.
He also has trouble with the new Africa leadership who see him as a paternalistic white. That's the most interesting part of the tale in many ways.
Schweitzer was a most beloved figure in my youth. His philosophy was summed up by him in three words, Reverence For Life. Something he never deviated from. I recommend people see this film and learn about what the best in civilization can produce.
Jeroen Krabbe stars as Schweitzer with Barbara Hershey as his supportive wife. The film concerns the period of Schweitzer's life between 1949 and 1955 as he joins a movement to ban the atomic bomb and not to develop the hydrogen bomb. A lot of people were involved. Schweitzer, philosopher Bertrand Russell, and scientists Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Certain right wing elements did their best to destroy Schweitzer's reputation in many ways. He's in the USA to raise funds for his medical mission in the future African nation of Gabon. It's put to him bluntly, but subtly back off the ban the bomb activity and all kinds of money can come your way. Schweitzer does not bend.
Schweitzer was a true renaissance man. Not only a medical practicioner, but a classical musician, and a philosopher. He would have really gotten along with Thomas Jefferson.
He also has trouble with the new Africa leadership who see him as a paternalistic white. That's the most interesting part of the tale in many ways.
Schweitzer was a most beloved figure in my youth. His philosophy was summed up by him in three words, Reverence For Life. Something he never deviated from. I recommend people see this film and learn about what the best in civilization can produce.
A remarkably good movie that deserved more exposure
steiner-sam15 January 2022
It's set in 1949-1952 in New York, Germany, and Gabon. It's a biopic of several years in the life of an older Albert Schweitzer when he became involved anti-H-bomb movement along with contemporaries like Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer.
Albert Schweitzer (Jeroen Krabbé) and his wife, Helene (Barbara Hershey), travel to New York to raise money for his hospital at Lambaréné, Gabon. He is welcomed by a hero, but some begin to criticize his close friendship with Albert Einstein (Armin Rohde), who had publicly criticized the development of the H-bomb. The Schweitzers are accompanied in their fundraising by a fictional French photographer, Thérèsa Bourdin (Judith Godrèche), an admirer. In addition, a fictional promoter named Phil Figgis (Samuel West) attaches himself to the group, claiming he can help raise money for the hospital, though we soon learn he has other motives.
Through flashbacks, we learn a bit about the early vision of Schweitzer's work in Gabon, but more time is spent on the growing issues that Schweitzer faces. Some dissent within his staff about the quality of care provided by the hospital and concern about the impact on the hospital arising from Schweitzer's increasing political commentary on the bomb.
Albert Schweitzer's difficult relationship with his wife, Helene, and daughter, Rhena (Jeanette Hain), and his paternalism towards his staff and patients is not avoided. The efforts of the "provisional government" in the French territory of Gabon to close the hospital are also shown in the activities of a fictional Louis Ngouta (Patrice Naiambana). More positively, Schweitzer's "reverence for life" philosophy is also on display.
This is a remarkably good movie that deserved more significant exposure. It's a German-South African production mainly in English, but with some French dialogue. Krabbé and Hershey do well, but I think the script is the most substantial part of the movie. It does not contain a lot of "action," but the various plot threads are weaved successfully.
This is the 16th in my list of movies in which pacifists are primary characters.
Albert Schweitzer (Jeroen Krabbé) and his wife, Helene (Barbara Hershey), travel to New York to raise money for his hospital at Lambaréné, Gabon. He is welcomed by a hero, but some begin to criticize his close friendship with Albert Einstein (Armin Rohde), who had publicly criticized the development of the H-bomb. The Schweitzers are accompanied in their fundraising by a fictional French photographer, Thérèsa Bourdin (Judith Godrèche), an admirer. In addition, a fictional promoter named Phil Figgis (Samuel West) attaches himself to the group, claiming he can help raise money for the hospital, though we soon learn he has other motives.
Through flashbacks, we learn a bit about the early vision of Schweitzer's work in Gabon, but more time is spent on the growing issues that Schweitzer faces. Some dissent within his staff about the quality of care provided by the hospital and concern about the impact on the hospital arising from Schweitzer's increasing political commentary on the bomb.
Albert Schweitzer's difficult relationship with his wife, Helene, and daughter, Rhena (Jeanette Hain), and his paternalism towards his staff and patients is not avoided. The efforts of the "provisional government" in the French territory of Gabon to close the hospital are also shown in the activities of a fictional Louis Ngouta (Patrice Naiambana). More positively, Schweitzer's "reverence for life" philosophy is also on display.
This is a remarkably good movie that deserved more significant exposure. It's a German-South African production mainly in English, but with some French dialogue. Krabbé and Hershey do well, but I think the script is the most substantial part of the movie. It does not contain a lot of "action," but the various plot threads are weaved successfully.
This is the 16th in my list of movies in which pacifists are primary characters.
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