Female Film Critics 24/375
On the Polish border of Ukraine, two young refugees flee their Nazi pursuers in 1942. This is how My Name is Sara opens and it is a nail-biter of a first act as we see Sara (Zuzanna Surowy) being separated from her family as World War II devastates her home country. Her true story of survival at a terrible cost is the plot of the film and it makes for a compelling opening and closing with a bit of a slog in the middle.
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Based on the 2017 best-seller by British novelist Robert Harris, Ben Power’s revisionist historical thriller revolves around two estranged Oxford University colleagues and their efforts to halt Hitler’s intended invasion of Europe. The sinister WWII story begins in 1932, when we first glimpse champagne-drenched best pals Hugh Legat (George McKay), Paul von Hartman (Jannis Niewohner) and Paul’s carefree Jewish girl-friend Lena (Liv Lisa Fries) cavorting at a garden party.
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In Munich – The Edge of War German director Christian Schwochow dramatizes the September 1938 meeting of the top echelon of Germany and Italy, England and France leading to a non-aggression pact meant to ensure peace. The hope driving negotiations and self-delusion is that appeasement will satisfy Führer Adolf Hitler as he prepares to annex the Sudeten German territory of Czechoslovakia.
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People who remain interested in the history of D-Day, June 6, 1944, will find much to absorb in “Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day.” This documentary differs from other History Channel-types due to the presence of the filmmaker, Charlotte Juergens. She concentrates on the veterans, not on the paratroopers’ generals, in an effort to connect with her great-grandfather Pat.
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The Painted Bird transmits the distinct and unrelentingly dangerous sense that something wisely restrained has emphatically been let off the chain. It’s a difficult film; upsetting, cruel, vicious and absolutely harrowing. But it is also probably a masterpiece, and a vital reminder of the fundamental dignities upon which the entire concept of human rights exists.
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Resistance recounts an undeniably fascinating, fact-based WWII story involving, among others, a young man who would become world famous — and another who became forever infamous. It’s a tale well worth telling — and remembering. Sometimes because of, and sometimes despite, the way it’s told.
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Recently, the Resistance against Nazis in World War II is back in the news. Last year saw the publication of
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Best known for his bombastic blockbusters “Independence Day,” “Stargate” and “The Day After Tomorrow,” the German filmmaker maximizes his considerable skills at building exciting action sequences – putting audiences in the cockpit of dive-bombing fighter jets, inside the cramped confines of a submarine surrounded by depth charges and on the blazing decks of a bombed-out aircraft career – while struggling to craft a cohesive narrative, fully realized characters and authentic dialogue.
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Memoir of War is French writer.director Emmanuel Finkiel’s adaptation of Marguerite Duras’ semi-autobiographical novella La douleur. An essential work in the literature of war, La douleur reveals Duras personal anguish as she survived in Nazi-occupied Paris, waiting for the return of her husband who’d been arrested by the Gestapo.
War is hell. It’s also tedious, especially for those on the home front who spend anxious hours waiting for news, for letters, for loved ones to return home. Memoir of War recounts the pain famed French writer Marguerite Duras endured waiting for her husband to return from a Nazi concentration camp.
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