linescraig There's no doubt that Rudolf Ditzen - or rather, Hans Fallada's book Every Man Dies Alone, or Alone in Berlin, is a masterpiece. This film 'adaptation' is far from it and is actually insulting the book and the true story and memory of Otto and Elise Hampel. A period drama set in Berlin during the heyday of Hitler's Nazi Party is an exceptionally ambitious, difficult and costly film to recreate, and the film maker and his team seem to me to have gone about this project in totally the wrong way - it's a confused jumble of priorities which negated the essence of the story and therefore the script completely lost sight of the intricacies and emotions of the real characters and the time in which they lived. The only real way to do justice to the novel is to serialise it as a television series; to explore the paranoia and the fear and the difficulties of living under the fascist regime, to show the poverty and hardship, the insidious mistrust of person for person, the degradation of society and the desperation of the inhabitants of Germany at that time. The film maker completely misses all of this, instead creating an atmosphere largely based on washed out colour and nothing being said. The costumes are far too neat and clean, everything is shiny and lovely and carefully placed, the casting is appalling - Emma Thompson, bless her, does pull in a good performance, but Brendan Gleeson plays himself as usual, and the detectives are just young boys completely out of their depth. And Depth is the biggest argument I have against this mockery of a great story ... there isn't any. It's superficial to say the least - only 10 percent of the characters from the original novel appear and the film maker pays little attention to those ten. It looks like it was filmed 'on the hoof' with very little thought for drama and direction, largely leaving it up to the mediocre actors to supply the viewer with the pathos needed. I wonder if when filming it more time was given over to style (which is largely inaccurate) than actual substance. This is not Alone in Berlin, it's simply a vacuous film that borrows a small idea from a truly dramatic, sad, and powerful real life story. Extremely disappointing and immature in every way.

bob-the-movie-man Once again, World War II turns up another true story of quiet valour to turn into a motion picture. At a time when Trump is pontificating about so called "fake news", here is a timely tale from history which centres on the battle against genuinely fake news: the Nazi propaganda machine. After losing their only son in the French campaign, Berliners Otto (Brendan Gleeson,"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire") and Anna (Emma Thompson, "Saving Mr Banks") turn against the regime and in repeated acts of rebellion Otto laboriously hand writes subversive postcards to leave in office blocks around Berlin.Out to catch him is local police investigator Escherich (Daniel Brühl) but in an age before CCTV that's no easy task and with increasing SS pressure the stakes for Escherich steadily increase. For Otto and Anna, the stress is there but both are resigned to their fate: with their son stolen from them for an unjust cause they are an island of indifference in an unholy land. Both are 'alone in Berlin?After 70 years it still chills the blood to see German locations decked out in Nazi regalia, but one of the joys of this film is this rendering of life in wartime Berlin: starting with jubilation at German progress prior to D-Day and turning to despair and genuine danger as the tide turns towards 1945. In a pretty bleak film there are touches of black comedy now and then: Otto's carpentry company is being encouraged "by the Fuhrer" to double and triple their output… of coffins. More joy comes from the star turns of Gleeson and Thompson, both of who deliver on their emotionally challenging roles. Gleeson in particular makes a very believable German with a sour demeanour and a steely determination. But the star acting turn for me goes to the wonderful Daniel Brühl ("Rush") as the tormented police detective, bullied into an ethical corner by the SS. The finale of the film – whilst not seeming quite believable – makes for a nicely unexpected twist.Based on a novel by Hans Fallada, the lead writing credits for the piece are shared between Achim von Borries and the director Vincent Perez – in a rare directorial outing for the Swiss actor. The script exudes a melancholic gloom and at times expresses beautifully both the grief and love shared by this older couple. But some of the dialogue needs more work and we don't see enough of Thompson in the early part of the film where her motivations should be being developed. This rather comes down to a lack of focus by the director. While the primary story of the card distribution is slight, it is compelling and a detour into a sub-story about an old Jewish lodger living upstairs is unnecessary and detracts from the overall story arc. I would have far preferred if the running time had been a tight 90 minutes just focused on Otto's mission. One final comment on the script: did I mishear that Anna claimed to have a 6 year old child during an air raid scene? I know Emma Thompson looks great for her age, but…. I can't finish this without commending the beautiful piano score of Alexandre Desplat. From the first note I knew it was him – he has such a characteristic style – and his clever use of the score complements the film exquisitely. "Small" films like this tend to rather disappear into the woodwork for Oscar consideration, but here's a soundtrack that I think should be considered: (but what do I know… when "Nocturnal Animals" wasn't even nominated in one of the Oscar crimes of the century!).In summary, I found this a thoughtful and thought-provoking film, that – despite some of the mean reviews I've seen – I thought was well crafted and with excellent production design by Jean-Vincent Puzos ("Amour"). It will be particularly appreciated by older audiences looking for an untold story from the war, and by all lovers of fine acting performances by the three leads. (For the full graphical review please visit http://bob-the-movie-man.com. Thanks!).

svikasha "Alone in Berlin" is a fictional depiction of the 1947 novel, "Alone in Berlin" by Hans Fallada. The main characters of the 2016 film are loosely based on Otto and Elise Hampel who were genuine historical figures that protested Hitler's government during World War Two. In real life, this German working-class couple was caught by the Gestapo and beheaded. Their Gestapo file was acquired by Hans Fallada and inspired the writer to make a deeply moving novel that was eventually published in English as, "Every Man Dies Alone".Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson play Anna and Otto Quangel who are fictional versions of the aforementioned historical figures in the "Alone in Berlin". After receiving the news of the death of their only son, the Quangels become agitated with the Nazi regime and begin a campaign of civil disobedience by composing postcards and placing them in high-traffic public areas throughout Berlin. These postcards urge the German people to stand against Hitler and his Nazi party because both were bad for Germany. The postcards eventually attract the attention of a genuine and hard-working police detective named Escherich who begins an investigation seeking to capture the perpetrators of this campaign, who he refers to as a "hobgoblin". There is very little romantic chemistry between the aging Quangels at the onset of the film. However, the combined effort of civil disobedience helps Otto and Anna rekindle some of the passion that was lost from their marriage. They grow close and continue their extended campaign of civil disobedience. Unfortunately, Otto is eventually caught when some of his postcards fall out of his pocket at his workplace. Naturally, Otto and Anna are subsequently executed by the Nazi regime. The same fate awaited the Hampel in real life after they were caught. At the conclusion of the film, the detective Escherich sits alone at his office. He had grown to admire the Quangels. He gathers up a number of the couple's postcards and scatters them out of an open window before shooting himself.This film could have been so much more. The actors were unquestionably talented. The scenes depicting Germany during World War Two including the Hitler Youth and the factories were satisfyingly detailed. But the film is weak given the powerful effect of the original novel. The most powerful moment of the entire film is captured in a touching moment between the old Otto and Anna Quangel when Otto explains his postcard writing campaign by saying, "It's like with a machine. A little sand in the gears will not stop the machine. But if a person throws a little more sand and more, the motor begins to stutter. The assembly line stops. In my mind, I see lots of people throwing sand in the gears". "You are a romantic Otto Quangel", Anna responds. Otto insists, "Im a mechanic", to which Anna replies, "Yeah. That too".

Jean-Pol Cardin My opinion-.This movie of Vincent Perez was for my part very well realized and it knew how to draw the maximum of right emotions by strong images, making this beautiful thriller dramatic. Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson, Daniel Brühl, who gave their full performances to this movie based on this true story. It evokes German resistance to the Nazi regime and the conditions of survival of German citizens during the Second World War. It is based on the real story of Otto and Elise Hampel, executed on April 8, 1943, at the Plötzensee prison for acts of resistance and whose file at the Gestapo was transmitted to Hans Fallada after the war. Realistically, this movie, based on the novel by Hans fallada published in 1947, which denounces the barbarity and cruelty of the Third Reich, the baseness of human nature subjected to fear and hatred and emphasizes the courage of A few who, in order to remain in harmony with their conscience and contribute to the destruction of that regime, were ready to give their lives. Moreover in this movie, there are very beautiful scenes really moving especially, one advances in this movie and the final scenes are magnificent of power. A strong movie in every respect