Die Auserwählten - Helden des Widerstands

As an Aussie who likes historical WWII dramas it's excellent The best I've seen this year.

Can't remember the last time a movie left me feeling so angry. Here we had a tale of heroism during WW2, a story which deserved to be told. What we got was a rushed, ill thought out, poorly acted, badly directed mess. Let's start with the obvious; the action is set in Hungary and Poland and yet the whole thing is done in English. This lost all authenticity at the first sign of US/UK accents. Then, when impersonating a German Officer the main character loses his British accent and launches into a "Ve have vays ov making you talk" German accent. Ludicrous. Another thing, one moment we are told he is a quiet guy who keeps to himself, next minute the resistance are in his home asking for his help, then suddenly he's there in full German regalia. Where did that come from then? No explanation. The Hungarian soldiers are then treated like some kind of keystone cop characters when they had the female prisoners. Unbelievable. The actors conveyed no sense of danger or desperation or anger or determination throughout. The whole thing seemed rushed and condensed to the point where it made no sense. This could have been good and indeed should have been good. It isn't, it's woeful. Heroism disrespected.

In modern times, an old man (Harvey Keitel) tells a young boy about his life during the war. It's 1943 Hungary. Sonson (Luke Mably) suffers as forced labor for the Nazis. They are hounded by the Hungarian police as the Nazis and their collaborators deport the Jews. Sonson joins a rebellion against the occupiers.

There is a scattered narrative flow with nothing new going on in this movie. It's a mistake to show Sonson as an old man which guarantees his survival through the entire ordeal. Mably doesn't have the greatest charisma and the movie doesn't give his character much substance. No other character has any substance at all. This has no tension despite the movie trying to ramp up the melodrama with the music cues at the wrong times. At most other times, this is quietly dull without the needed tension. It's also not the highest of production value. The directing is weak. It's functional at best but not much more.

Nicely shot and well acted, however it didn't always flow and lacked depth.

It felt like a big story was compressed into a series of convenient and simple events.

Having said that, it was still worth a watch - just don't expect an epic.

I'm a sucker for a decent ww2 film & i have watched so many, some brilliant & some so woeful, that ive just turned off the tv. This, by many viewers has been given bad reviews, maybe they expect too much from a lower budget film...this is not Hollywood. But as it goes, this film is rather good, yes it has mistakes & no famous names but the story line is good & makes you really feel for the Jews & how barbaric the Nazis were & why they needed to uprise against them, the acting is just fine to me & the wardrobe is fine aswell, the music can get a little loud in places where you don't need it tbh. I've just watched it & I've rather enjoyed it.