Trailer Link

Release Date:

January 15, 2014

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Berlin, 1941. Five friends eager to become heroes in an adventure that will change the face of Europe – and that will forever change them as well. Level-headed, highly decorated officer Wilhelm is off to the eastern front with his younger brother Friedhelm, a sensitive dreamer more interested in literature than warfare. Deeply in love with Wilhelm is Charlotte, a young nurse who looks forward to serving in the Wehrmacht, also on the eastern front. While Greta is a talented singer who longs to become another Marlene Dietrich, her Jewish boyfriend Viktor still cannot convince his parents to leave Germany… Valor and courage come to the fore, but also betrayal – of values, beliefs, humanity. Friedhelm turns into a soulless killing machine… Wilhelm deserts his troops and is court-martialed… Charlotte’s Nazi ideology crumbles when she betrays a Jewish nurse helping the German army… Greta obtains papers for Viktor’s escape by selling herself to an SS colonel. They and millions of others wanted to be heroes; but none of them could imagine what the war would ultimately do to them and to the rest of the world.”

Trailer: D / B+

Review: The first design is the equivalent of a McDonald’s dollar-menu hamburger. Plain, unhealthy and lacking in taste. The second design is far more inventive, though might conjure up too many negative images for certain viewers. That in itself makes this a more challenging and successful design. Trapped within Nazi Germany are five souls at the will of World War II’s sea change.

Trailer: B-

Review: A conventionally constructed trailer does a decent job establishing this as a film different from many World War II-centered pictures in the recent half century and going for something akin to Letters from Iwo Jima, humanizing the “other side” of the conflict. It tries to establish the characters as being at odds with the war, but strives for sensational images of sobbing, bombing and doesn’t further hint at the emotional toll the friends’ decisions have on each other.

Oscar Prospects:

It seems like the kind of film that might play better to critics than to the Academy, but one never knows. If it’s a better film than its trailer, it could compete for Best Foreign Language Film if it’s even eligible next year.

Revisions:

(January 12, 2014) Original