Popular reviews

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  Review byPaul ★★★★★7

  Added to Based Films for Lefties

  
  In the mere three films I’ve seen by Costa-Gavras so far, it seems as though few other directors are better at observing, understanding, synthesizing, and naturally implementing into dialogue the fallacious arguments and justifications brought forth by conservatives and right-liberals to uphold, defend, and abet institutions of power.

  "Someday, we will all be unproductive."

  Amen is a powerful examination of the conflicts and connections between the SS and the Vatican, as well as the conflicts internally within the Vatican during the rise of Nazi power, a relationship to my knowledge that's rarely, if ever, examined in film. It also deals extensively with the crushing weight of existing within an evil system outside of your control…

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  Review byEnfant du Siècle ★★★½

  Unlike many other films about the Second World War and the Holocaust,Amen. chooses to move away from the battlefields and extermination camps to focus on the figure of Kurt Gerstein, an officer of theSchutzstaffel and his attempt to denounce the genocide of the Jewish people to the international community. At the same time, Costa-Gavras points to the passivity and hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, which opted for a "diplomatic" stance in the face of the atrocities committed by the Third Reich. It is a most interesting story but, personally, I didn't quite like the treatment of the material, which at times comes across as slightly Manichean. I am left with the feeling thatAmen. could have been much more powerful, but succeeds because of the performances of Tukur and Kassovitz, as well as the moral dilemmas it raises and the reflections proposed.

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  Review byEthan ☔️1

  The best movie your freshman history teacher never showed you.

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  Review byKelbaenor ★★★1

  An undeniably well made film on the technical level but lacking the biting analysis and political fire that Costa Gavras' earlier work had. Difficult not just because of the subject matter, but also because the films two primary protagonists are fully invested participants in the repressive systems they later decided to turn against, so neither are sympathetic figures. The film is fine, but feels satisfied to simply retell the story rather than dig into the social forces behind the Holocaust and the crimes of the Nazis.

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  Review bydave ★★★★½

  wow. this tale of an ss soldier who recognized the atrocity that his country was committing and tried to do something about it was quite a frustrating story. his struggles of bringing the holocaust to the light of day, the concentration camps and the terror, all of it ignored by the people who should have listened. the guy just runs into brick wall after brick wall with the vatican. hindsight is always 20/20 as they say, and this hindsight brings tears to my eyes. great movie.

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  Review bywashington ★★★2

  This film depends a little too hard on coincidence and beauty to rank high for me and is the first serious disappointment, for me, from Costa-Gavras. That said I wouldn't call it bad as there's a lot of little details spread throughout which gives the movie extra life. For instance there's no real human enemy with the general bureaucracy and indifference being the film's sole poison against good intentions. The film though is much too polite to really matter much though.

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  Review byRoman Volobuev

  It drives me mad howInglourious Basterds’ Colonel Landa is a carbon copy of Ulrich Mühe’s nameless character in this one.

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  Review byAlen Golež ★★★★★

  Neverjetna zgodovinsko-politična drama, posneta v slogu trilerja, kjer protagonist, SS-oficir, bije bitko s časom, da bi cerkev in zavezniške sile prepričal v pomoč judom in v obsodbo holokavsta.

  Kljub depresivnosti (ne)prikazanih grozot film odlikuje odlična tematizacija funkcije črnega humorja v teh okoliščinah, saj nacistov ne prikaže kot stereotipno resnih, temveč kot ves čas na ves glas režeče se.

  Prav zaradi vpogleda, ki ga ta film da v kompleksnost sprenevedanja in dopuščanja grozot, še toliko bolj resonira dandanes, ko se genocid izvaja drugje. Ko gledamo Amen, film dopolnjuje naše dojemanje holokavsta, a hkrati naša sedanjost dopolnjuje dojemanje filma. Ustreznice se med filmom kar vrivajo v naše misli: vstavi izraelsko pošastno vlado, vstavi Bidna, vstavi Scholza, vstavi Palestince kot ustreznico "boljševiških judov". V glavnem, grozno. Zato je še toliko bolj neverjetno, kaj ta film naredi s humorjem.

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  Review byisa 🌱 ★★★★

  Un judío entra a un auditorio, tira planfetos y después de denunciar que en Alemania están deportando miles de judíos, se dispara, así empieza Amén, con una escena de protesta en 1936. Esto marcael tema de la película, sobre la indiferencia de las autoridades y sobre las protestas que resultaron inútiles por parte de los espectadores de la segunda guerra mundial.

  Las protestas en Alemania al plan de "eutanasia" a personas con discapacidades por parte de los católicos fueron notadas por gobierno, e incluso llegaron a decir que no iban a seguir asesinando a estas personas, ahora se sabe que realmente eso fue mentira. Pero nuestro personaje Kurt Gerstein (personaje real pero en esta película es ficción la mayoría)…

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  Review byStringer Bell ★★★★

  A powerful film that is often overlooked in the pantheon of WW2 films.

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  Review bySarahGrovesnor ★★★★★1

  Also all-time Top 5.

  I can’t think of *any part* of this movie I would tweak, improve, or even explore differently.

  The casting is spectacular. The story is incredible and gut-wrenching, and also *utterly unlike* any of the other narratives about the Shoah I’ve encountered. The fact that it is based on true events doesn’t even need flaunted at the the beginning of the film—you don’t need that info up front, as more reason to be invested in the story.

  The film work, cinematography: visually beautiful, thematically relevant, just... poetry in execution, not a moment’s interruption to the immersive experience.

  Also: I want to express gratitude, as an American, for films about people from other countries that provide *actors from…

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  Review bylijuu ★★★★½

  Fuck les chleus et vive Mathieu Kassowitz