The water diviner (2014)

Summary :
After the Battle of Gallipoli, in 1915, an Australian farmer, Connor , travels to Turkey to find his 3 missing sons. While staying at a hotel in Istanbul, he meets Ayshe, the hotel manager. And tries to find a way to Gallipoli.

Genre : Drama/War
Country : Australia/USA/Turkey

Cast :
Rusell Crowe : Connor
Olga Kurylenko : Ayshe
Yilmaz Erdogan : Major Hasan

Director : Rusell Crowe

My Opinion   

“Are there any more records about my son?
We are Ottomans, not Germans. “

It looks like "Russell Crowe movie week" here. After "Fathers and daughters" I had to check his directorial debut. And to be honest, I thought this postwar dramatic film was much better than the sugarcoated "Fathers and daughters". In both films the father figure plays an important role. In "The Water Diviner" however, he's a grieving father whose sons were killed in the Battle of Gallipoli, which took place in Turkey during the 1st World War. A bloody battle, on a piece of land as large as a handkerchief, between Turkish troops and a corps with Australian and New Zealand troops (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps or ANZAC). It's beyond dispute that wars provide disgusting scenes which once again demonstrate the absurdity of such tragedies. The agony of the three brothers on the battlefield was the most unpleasant and difficult part of the entire movie. It was so terrible to watch. I really had enough of it at a given time. The relevance was clear to me. It wasn't clear to me why it had to take so miserable long.

Apart from a few hiccups, I thought it was a fairly successful film. Looking at the technical side of the movie, you could say it was excellent. Perhaps it seemed to be a dramatized travel documentary at times. But the palette of colored fabrics and the interior view of Turkish mosques assured some visually stunning images. The phenomenal scene in Australia, where Connor (Russell Crowe) protects his three sons against an impressive sandstorm, was a breathtaking moment. And this impressive imagery is used throughout this reasonable epic adventure story. It resembled a bit "The Physician". In this case it's someone from downunder who gazes at the traditions, the folklore and the beauty of Istanbul. Naturally this leads to intercultural conflicts with a few yelling Turks, who defend their values, and a fleeing Aussie.

The historical side was also fascinating. I don't know that much about the 1st World War. And certainly not about what happened in the Arab part of the world. The Turkish community wasn't happy about welcoming Australian tourists afterwards. This was also presented realistic. At the same time the cooperation between the ANZAC and Turkish Major Hasan (Yilmaz Erdogan) also didn't proceed so smoothly and the intense hatred again resurfaced. And just let me mention the scene at the beginning with the local priest who has a huge problem with the burial of Connor's wife, because she  committed suicide apparently. A strong moment. A proof that the short-sightedness and insensitivity remained intact through the years.

Altogether it's a wonderful debut from Crowe. And this combined with a not so bad leading role. The role Erdogan played was also noteworthy. A calm Turkish Major who forgets his grievances and offers his help to identify the tens of thousands of victims without hesitation. And additionally also aid Connor with his search for his lost sons. Dylan Georgiades plays the role of son Orhan enthusiastically. While the ultra-cool Olga Kurylenko gives shape to the widow Ayshe. An exotic beauty who's aloof at first, but as the film progresses her icy attitude slowly melts.

And now it's time for the disappointing elements of this yet fascinating film. The "station novel"-like love story that was incorporated, wasn't really necessary according to me. The fact that it's about two individuals from two different cultures and each bearing a loss due to the war, sounds plausible. But they should have left it at that. The paranormal talent Connor supposedly possessed, was grossly exaggerated. Sure, maybe he can find water in the bone-dry Australian desert by using a twig. I'm willing to believe that. But him standing in the middle of a battlefield in a sort of trance surrounded by the rotting remains of thousands of victims and miraculously finding the location where his sons are lying, was a bit ridiculous. And then the Indiana Jones imitation in the end, clashed a bit with the rest of the film. But the biggest annoyance was the sound. The dramatic music and sound effects were terribly noisy. By contrast, the conversations were at whisper level. I had a sore thumb afterwards because I had to use continuously the volume button. But ultimately it was still a magnificent movie.

My rating 7/10
Links : IMDB

Suite Francaise (2014)

Summary
France, 1940. In the first days of occupation, beautiful Lucile Angellier is trapped in a stifled existence with her controlling mother-in-law as they both await news of her husband: a prisoner of war. Parisian refugees start to pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers' own homes. Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno von Falk, the handsome and refined German officer staying with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and leads them into the tragedy of war.
 
Genre : War/Romance
Country : UK/France/Belgium

Cast :
Michelle Williams  : Lucile Angellier
Kristin Scott Thomas : Madame Angellier
Matthias Schoenaerts : Bruno von Falk

Director : Saul Dibb

My opinion  

"This German is our enemy. Do you understand?
Yes. Madame."

Occasionally my lovely, sweet wife (yep, she regularly reads my reviews) gets the privilege to choose a movie. Usually this is accompanied by a blistering reproach that I always get it my way. I always think of her when choosing a movie and usually it's an acceptable one. She tends to forget that. I usually look those gore and scarier flicks in the middle of the night on my own, so I'm saved from a wife who awakes in a panic while planting her sharp nails into my shoulders. Hence I braced myself for a romantic war drama and expected it to be a wilted station novel. Ultimately, it wasn't so bad. The romantic rumble was limited and there was more attention for the mutual relations between the richer and poorer population in the village of Bussy and the vicissitudes of a fugitive, crippled farmer.
 

Besides, I must admit that I have a weak spot for WWII movies. I readily admit that those were the dark pages in the history of Europe, but those developments in these years  were a fertile ground for a whole range of excellent war films. The fact that Matthias Schoenaerts also succeeded in getting the leading role here, was another reason for me to give this movie a chance. Let's say chauvinism raised its head and as a Belgian I'm proud to see how this fellow countryman has worked his way into the club of the better international actors (sorry Muscles from Brussels, but you just didn't get in that club)

 

Surprisingly, I didn't suffer from aching jaws because of the complete absence of yawning. There's of course the forbidden love between Lucille (Michelle Williams), the daughter of the strict and cold landowner Madame Angellier (beautiful played by Kristin Scott Thomas) on the one hand and officer Bruno von Falk (Schoenaerts), a German officer who has been assigned a place to sleep at the manor of the latter two ladies, on the other. Eventually, this forbidden love remains slumbering a bit on the background and isn't imaged explicitely. But their like-minded love for music comes more to the fore. The additional storylines made it more interesting. The other arrogant German officer who sees himself as an Übermensch and treats the locals disrespectful, the callous mother in law who appears to be a resistance fighter in the making, the mayor and his wife (two genuine asskissers) trying to get in good graces with the occupiers but face the consequences afterwards and the resistance of a peasant against the oppressors.

All this is beautifully illustrated and featured with the usual scenes of war (a nosedive of German fighter-bombers against innocent refugees is included of course), which makes it an interesting war drama. But afterwards I didn't think it was that innovative, so to speak. It's the superb performances which nevertheless left a deep impression. The clichéd plot twists are not shunned, and what remains is a conservative adaptation of a manuscript left by a real war victim, Irène Némirovsky.  

My rating 7/10
Links : IMDB 

The Imitation Game (2014)

Summary
Based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, the film portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers at Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II.

Genre : Biography/Drama/War
Country : UK/USA
 
Cast :
Benedict Cumberbatch : Alan Turing
Keira Knightley  : Joan Clarke

Matthew Goode : Hugh Alexander

Director : Morten Tyldum


My opinion 

“Cryptography is the science of codes.

Like secret messages?

Not  secret. That’s the brilliant part. Messages that anyone can see, but no one knows what they mean, unless you have the key.

How is that different from talking?

Talking?When people talk to each other they never say what they mean. They say something else. And you’re supposed to just know what they mean. Only, I never do. So how is that different?

Alan, I have a funny feeling that you’re going to be very good at this.”

Looking back, the above-mentioned conversation between Alan Turing and his school friend Christopher Morcom, is for me the perfect summary of the fascinating life of the intellectual mathematician Turing. The phenomenon he faced throughout his whole life had to do with "decoding". From an early age, Alan had trouble dealing with his fellow men. It was for him in a way a kind of cryptogram how to act and react towards his fellow men. A brilliant mind who simply couldn't grasp simple human interactions. At a later stage he was the one who designed a forerunner of the current computer and who formed the basis of the principles of artificial intelligence, in order to crack the infamous Enigma cipher, which was used by the Germans during WWII and which combination changed every 24 hours. An almost impossible task to do for a human being. But thanks to the pioneering work of Polish scientists in this area it was made possible by him, by building one of the first self-correcting computers "The Bombe". Ultimately this would drastically change the course of WWII and shorten this dreadful period with 2 to 4 years. So millions of lives were spared in that way.

This magnificent biopic highlights three important episodes in the life of Turing: his school period in Sherborne where he obviously was the center of harassment's because of his odd behavior, the war period which took place mainly at Bletchley Park where he and some staff members built the innovative machine and the postwar period. The result is a clever interwoven story that jumps effortlessly from period to period. I'm not a huge fan of these flashbacks normally but the Norwegian director Morten Tyldum succeeds wonderfully in making three parallel stories without too much confusion. Although most of the story takes place during the 2nd world war, it's not a typical war movie. So don't expect any heroic battle scenes. The emphasis is on the person Turing and his mental state that haunted him throughout his life. A hard, impatient, arrogant, narcissistic person who wasn't easy to work with. He had a profound distaste of explaining complicated theorems and he treated everyone in a derogatory way. Many of his traits appear autistic and point in the direction of Asperger syndrome.

What really impressed me in this film was the interpretation of Benedict Cumberbatch who impersonates the person Turing in a brilliant way. A realistic portrait in which the viewer is trying to decipher the riddle Turing. He managed to change your feelings regarding this genius again and again. From sympathy to irritation and than changing it into pity. One moment you passionately hate this bastard. The next moment you deeply admire him and you are outraged about the treatment this "war hero" underwent. A lack of appreciation for his impossible feat and the fact that it was only in 2009 one pleaded for a posthumous rehabilitation and the British government eventually offered its apologies. Although I also had a mathematical education and am working daily with computers, I must admit that I'd never heard of Alan Turing. This year there was a scene in "The Machine" I enjoyed, where a certain Vincent, also an A.I. expert, subjected certain software systems to a Turing test. Also a known procedure described in an article by Turing while working at the University of Manchester.

No doubt about it. This was one of the most interesting films of the last year with some masterful acting. Not only by Cumberbatch (and I put my money on him when it's about the Oscar), but also by Keira Knightley, who I usually dislike when she uses her exaggerated expressive smile again. Also the result of cracking the code and the taken subsequent actions, gave the story an extra dimension. There were some historical inaccuracies though : The machine never got the name "Christopher" (this was purely for increasing the drama content of the film), the impression one gets as if Turing was the initial designer and the fact that he wrote a letter to Churchill  on his own. But despite these trivialities, this was a successful tribute to a war hero. Unfortunately you can't prove this but I'm sure that without the commitment of this person, my vernacular probably would be German.
Donnerwetter ....

My rating 9/10
Links : IMDB

The Railway Man (2013)

English Here ...

Genre : Biography/Drama/War
Country : Australia/UK
 
Cast :
Colin Firth : Eric Lomax
Jeremy Irvine : Eric Lomax
Nicole Kidman : Patti

Director :
Jonathan Teplitzky

Summary
Eric Lomax was one of thousands of Allied prisoners of war forced to work on the construction of the Thai/Burma railway during WW2. His experiences, after the secret radio he built to bring news and hope to his colleagues was discovered, left him traumatised and shut off from the world. Years later, he met Patti, a beautiful woman, on a train and fell in love. Patti was determined to rid Eric of his demons. Discovering that the young Japanese officer who haunted her husband was still alive, she faced a terrible decision. Should Eric be given a chance to confront his tormentor ?

My opinion

"You are a soldier, Lomax. You never surrendered."

There have been innumerable movies about the 2nd World War, in which the atrocities of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust were highlighted. Almost all major battles and facts from this dark period have been used. Films about the living conditions of prisoners of war (POW's) in Japan and the daily torture and inhumane treatment they underwent in the Japanese-occupied territories, are rare. There were more than 140.000 inmates in this period in Japan. One out of three died from hunger, the hard labour, floggings and diseases. The worst conditions were for those who worked on the railroad that was built between Burma and Thailand. The so-called Death Railway which was 258 miles long and was built across inhospitable land. Japanese engineers calculated that it would take 5 years to make it. But with the use of military POW's and civilians, the job was done in 16 months. An average of 200 workers died on a daily base. 15.000 POW's, including 7.000 British, were killed. Also about 100.000 Thai and Indonesian citizens died while constructing this railroad.

"The railway man" is an emotional and beautifully portrayed story of Eric Lomax, a Scottish officer who was taken prisoner in Singapore and worked as an engineer on the construction of this railway. Given the circumstances, his living conditions weren't so bad, until the Japanese discovered that the small group of engineers had constructed a radio, so they could follow the developments at the front. However, the Japanese thought they used it to send messages. Eric takes a courageous decision and says he's responsible, after which a long period of successive torture and humiliation starts. Until the liberation.

It's an adaptation of the impressive story written down by Eric Lomax himself. A story of a scarred man suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). A man who is obsessed by railways and tries to come to terms with his past. It's during a train ride that he meets Patricia Wallace, a recently divorced and well-read woman. During their marriage, Patricia soon discovers that he still suffers from his traumatic past and is still haunted by his Japanese torturers.

A gripping story, subtly and respectfully filmed. There's no use of a lot of action-packed scenes or terrible horrifying images of tortures. It's rather the lack of it that causes an oppressive feeling and that gives you an idea of ​​the terrible conditions in which these POW's were living. The nightmares Eric had sometimes and his comatose state of mind was performed in an impressive way. The story jumps back and forth between the past and the present, and delivers sometimes real postcard-images: like the loving couple on the beach with an umbrella flying away or the images at the end of the movie with the finished railway in Burma.

These beautiful images are in stark contrast with the sordid and degrading images of the shown Japanese camps. The hopeless situation, the emaciated bodies of the dead tired workers who succumb during heavy forced labor, inhuman conditions and the constant torture and punishments they faced. A tarnished image of the Japanese: cruel, callous, ruthless, extraordinarily hard and sadistic. A black page in their history they seemingly got away with easily. It is as if they torn that page, burned it and tried to forget about it as soon as possible.

Both Jeremy "War Horse" Irvine as Colin "Love Actually" Firth convincingly play the role of Eric Lomax. Irvine undergoes the physical terror and torture by the Kempeitai (a kind of Japanese Gestapo) as a young officer. There are some horrible images to see and to hear. The regularity with which he is beaten with a hardwood stick. The moment a bone breaks after administering harsh strokes gave me shivers down my spine. The wailing and screaming. The frightened look as he is transported back to an isolated room to get a special treatment. Firth is still undergoing the psychological torture of his traumatic experience. He looses contact with the outside world, he doesn't speak a word and has even downright aggressive reactions. He regularly attends a meeting with fellow sufferers to study tacitly a timetable for trains. For once I found that Nicole Kidman played a decent role. She's not exactly my favorite actress, and maybe she was overly cool and reserved in this movie, but it fitted perfectly and occasionally you saw this figurative glacier thawing. I also found the young Takeshi Nagase (Tanroh Ishida) masterfully played. His facial expression ranged from a calm sadist to sincere sympathy. A good example of acting talent.

Eventually there will be someone complaining about the predictability (if you've read the book, this is obviously quite normal) and the faint ending. But finally I thought this was an appropriate and dignified way. An ending that was grander in its simplicity than any other conceivable way. And although the film progresses at a leisurely pace, the 116 minutes were gone before I knew it. It's not a film like "The bridge on the River Kwai" but in my eyes it's a memorable film that made ​​quite an impression on me.

My rating 9/10
Links : IMDB

The Monuments Men (2014)

Genre : War/Drama
Country : USA/Germany

Cast :
George Clooney : Frank Stokes
Matt Damon : James Granger
Cate Blanchett : Claire Simone

Director :
George Clooney

Summary
The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys - seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 - possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind's greatest achievements.

Mijn mening

"If you destroy their history, you destroy their achievements and it's as if they never existed.”

"The Monuments men" is a terribly boring movie. Thank God there were people during the 2nd World War who were concerned about the cultural heritage and with a selfless commitment went to the battlefields of Nazi Germany to recover the looted artworks. It's a story based on true events, but I still doubt if it was necessary to make a film about those events. In "The Guns of Navarone" they gathered ​​a commando to destroy those damn huge cannons. In "Saving Private Ryan" a group of soldiers got orders to look for a certain Ryan (of course) whose brothers been killed on the battlefield. In "The Monuments Men" some old aged connoisseurs of art, sacrifice themselves to find stolen artworks. They also could have called it "Saving a Private Collection". But this one isn't that heroic and exciting. You would expect this to be a masterpiece with such a cast and such an original story about the 2nd World War. Ultimately, it isn't a movie of the same valuable level as those pieces of art they tried to save.

George Clooney co-wrote this film, has directed it and also plays the lead role as Frank Stokes, an art expert at age who puts together a group of eight other art historians, architects and professors to go to distant Europe and find some lost art. It's also a race against the clock since the Russians are also keen to get those artworks in their possession. For the Russians, it's a kind of payment for the losses they suffered during the war, while "The Monuments Men" have the noble aim to deliver it back to the original owners. The other members of the group consists of the three American greybeards Richard Campbell (Bill Murray), Walter Garfield (John Goodman) and Preston Savitz (Bob Balaban), the Englishman Donald Jeffries ( Hugh Bonneville ) who apparently has to make up for something, the Frenchman in exile Jean Claude Clermont (Jean Dujardin) and James Granger (Matt Damon) and Sam Epstein (Dimitri Leonidas).

Again Clooney looks like the perfect son in law and behaves as usual as a charming Hollywoodstar. I'm constantly amazed about the fact that no matter what Mr.Clooney does, his hair always looks immaculate and well groomed. It seemed as if there is still a renowned stylist on every corner in this recreated-to-rubble Germany who has the time to fix his hair again. For the rest, it seems like an "Ocean's Eleven" in uniform. Even the conversations with Damon look like a duplicate of "Ocean's Eleven" : such a jovial, toneless and dry informal conversation between two close friends. Same routine.

Matt Damon plays again the smiling charmer who tries to help himself using his pitifully poor French (To be honest, I couldn't understand anything he said) on his way to Paris, where he will meet a woman called Claire Simone (Cate Blanchett). Claire is the curator of the Jeu de Paume, a former art museum that became a depot of stolen art. She could possibly point out the locations where the Nazis have hidden their loot. However, she is an old-fashioned young woman who stubbornly refuses to help him, out of fear that it would disappear in the hands of the U.S. The fact that this frigid aunt suddenly felt her hormones working and encouraged Damon to clean up the produced cobwebs during the war, after she was so kind to ask if he was a "good husband", I found a useless and meaningless filler which had nothing to do with the rest of the story.

The most enjoyable performances were done by the comic trio of the whole gang: Murray, Goodman and Balaban. Although their efforts unfortunately couldn't save the movie. Murray walked around again as if he could care less. The famous dry humor was briefly interrupted by one of the most moving moments: playing a vinyl record he received with a Christmas message of his daughter and grandchildren. An intimate moment between all the misery of war. Goodman was again the lame softy you expect anytime to emit a thunderous roar of laughter, but also has its sad moment when he and Clermont ends up in a crossfire between the two armed forces. Balaban is an irascible rascal who has one great desire when they arrive in Europe : the opportunity to kill somebody over there.

Don't expect action packed war scenes because the art rescuers follow the advancing forces during the whole movie and arrive in every historically known location after the Germans and allied forces have left. There are countless films about the horrors of the 2nd World War, but this story was still unknown to me. That made it more interesting to watch. The fact that there are two Belgian cities in the movie where valuable works of art were stolen , is also something that aroused my curiosity. The sometimes amusing dialogues and funny moments are interspersed with touching moments and a few moralizing and corny moments . But overall it was just a weak movie. In content it's not really an epic story : a group of elderly men running back and forth through Germany looking for paintings and sculptures . That they made a 2 hour movie about that, is in itself an achievement .

My rating 4/10
Links : IMDB

Forbidden Ground (2013)

Genre : War
Country : Australia

Cast :
Johan Earl : Wilkins
Tim Pocock : O'Leary
Martin Copping : Jennings

Director :
Johan Earl,Adrian Powers

Summary
When an allied charge on the German lines goes horribly wrong, one man finds himself stranded in No Man's Land. Reuniting with two other survivors, together they must help each other as they charge into the unknown across the muddy wasteland as the Germans quickly hone in on the desperate trio. Tensions rise between the soldiers as they are surrounded by explosions of grenades with the constant rattle of machine guns in their ears. Time is running out as they make their way back over enemy lines as an impending attack could soon take them out.

My opinion
An Australian attempt to create an image of the terrible battles that were held in WWI. They managed to show that on a small scale. Military units in dirty miserable conditions, sitting in mud and other dirt waiting until they were driven into a certain death. The whistling of bullets and explosions of bombs. The fear in the eyes of young soldiers who probably didn't even know what this war was about.

The image I'll remind of this movie was that of the arrogant superior who, without hesitation, gives an order to attack, although this would lead to a needless bloodshed. Because this was totally unnecessary and pointless in this stage of the battle, since they were planning for a heavy bombardment on the German positions. It was a showcase of egocentric display of power. I don't understand how come those hundred men in the trenches don't jump on that fagot coward collectively and chased him on the battlefield with a gun.

Anyway, the introduction of this film is the rush towards the German position, realizing  that no one will reach the other side alive. Don't expect grand heroic scenes like in "Saving Private Ryan", but rather limited images and close-ups. A clear sign that this is a low-budget film. The three soldiers Sergeant Major Wilkins , private O'Leary and Corporal Jennings , survive the massacre and end up in no man's land between the two lines. The rest of the battalion is spread over the mud-filled grounds. From here on starts the biggest part of the movie, because going back to their own trenches takes time. Corporal Jennings is very badly injured (A full leg torn away) which makes that the withdrawal is not so evident. This section is therefore extremely boring. It's not because of the acting. The acting is still acceptable despite the circumstances . But to be honest, a slowly receding threesome is not much to work with and to get an exciting story.

Eventually they made up a parallel story in which the wife of Sergeant Major Wilkins plays a leading role. She's pregnant and wants an abortion. Something that wasn't obvious to do at that time. Eventually she asks the help of a nurse who doesn't have experience with this operation. Obviously this ends up in a complete tragedy. And what a coincidence ! This nurse is the fiancée of Corporal Jennings, who at the same time ceased to live on the battlefield.

"Forbidden Ground"  mostly succeeded in visualizing the atmosphere and the horror in WWI, now 100 years ago. In terms of content, it's a disaster and the story itself is a bit far fetched.

Het verdict 2 /10
Links : IMDB