Plan A

We are watching this right now, it's strange, the first voice says a few words, he says what would you do? It's all for no reason. Isn't this happening worldwide right now? History repeating itself. Okay there's a reason but I don't agree with it: we use far too many resources that can lead to a very uncertain future for us all so we need to act before 2030.

It's not a bad movie, on the contrary, the scheme is daring, and inspired from actual events. But the overall result in terms of acting, directing seems too predictable for this daring story. There is something wrong between the purpose and the development. This movie could have been far better, actually it lacks power, it could have gone further. But, I repeat, the basic topic where, for once, Jews are not shown as purely good guys, intending to poison millions of civilians in revenge, this topic is not that usual, it is rather surprising. So, so summarize, I think it did not deserve a theatrical release, but on the contrary released as a TV movie, it could have been far enough. With less "big screen" production design, it would have been more dramatic, more sober. More effective.

The circumstances and the issues as presented in this film are very accurate--- maybe too accurate for commercial success, because many viewers may be displeased at the depiction of the German population in the aftermath of WWII. As far as the postwar vigilante killings of Nazis and the course of "Plan A" itself go, the film is again quite accurate although it simplifies the narrative by skipping past some complexities. And, strangely for a movie called "Plan A," it never mentions that there was a Plan B (less sweepingly murderous) and even a Plan C (even less so than Plan B).

I found the visual aspect very impressive. More than once, I marveled that a scene looked exactly as I'd imagined it from reading the history.

The writers and actors seem able to throw important questions out at the audience while still maintaining a feeling of naturalism. My one complaint there is that when someone is asked why the Jews didn't mount more resistance against the Nazis, the movie doesn't provide as full an answer as it could have.

And although the actors gave their all, someone decided to add drama to certain scenes by overdubbing some shivery breathing that the actors obviously weren't really doing. I had to say it. But that said, the movie presents an important episode-- we are still affected today by what, in the end, did NOT happen then-- and treats the attendant questions with due seriousness.

It begins: 'Based on a true story' and that's exactly what it delivers. These were extraordinary times where simple unvarnished truth would have been an incredibly powerful way of telling this particular story. Unfortunately, creative license greatly diminishes rather than heightens what should have been storytelling at its finest. The ending, in particular, betrays the integrity of real events. The high-scoring ratings here seem similarly gratuitous. Is it better than Schindler's List (8.9 and seven Oscars)? Or Life is Beautiful (8.6 and 3 Oscars)? Or The Pianist (8.5 and 3 Oscars)? The acting's is good, as are the production values and it's a decent enough film. But truth, especially given the subject matter, is infinitely more powerful than fiction.

Based on a true story which normally grabs my interest anyway, this is a film generally worth a watch

August Diehl who tends to be cast in this sort of movie gives a decent enough performance.