La sombra del pasado

I'm a rather pedestrian person, with somewhat lowbrow tastes. However, I occasionally try to raise the bar on my cultural awareness. This movie was one of my attempts. I was in awe throughout the entire movie. I liked it so much that I got my own tape so I could see it again. This is a very thoughtful and emotionally striking movie. I saw it as a huge question to the viewer: What is the depth of sacrifice to duty one can accept, can be asked to accept, should accept? As a military member, this is of course an important question to me. This question weighs heavily on the viewer of this movie.

Recommended.

I've always loved Vonnegut because his books probe issues most people don't much like to think about. This film begins with an American who is beautifully and passionately in love. It ends with him broken by an ill-considered agreement that many would call noble, even heroic. What part does anticipation have in avoiding blame? Is simply being too distracted by love or duty to see the full impact of something an excuse? Is there ever an end to personal responsibility?

Seldom do I see a movie in which the star performs so well you can hardly believe he is an actor, but he comes across as the real guy he is portraying. I believed Nick Nolte was an American spy who seemed to renounce his American citizenship in World War II--when in fact he should have been rewarded for having served America so well after the war was over and he returned to civilian life. I have seen Nick Nolte in other movies, but never have I been so impressed with his depth of characterization as he manifests in this film.

Given the track-record for adaptations of Vonnegut novels, I was pleasantly surprised at how faithful this film is to the original source material (with one glaring and near-fatal exception near the end). It is also handsomely-made and features fine performances from everyone involved, especially Nick Nolte. The problem is that the tone is all wrong. The power of Vonnegut's novel is its black humor, which is completely lacking here; in the novel, Howard W. Campbell's story, despite being rooted in WWII and the Holocaust, is a farce that ultimately brims over with moral outrage; here is it more of a arty tragedy.

This movie pleasantly surprised me. It has a touching, slightly off-center approach that never loses your attention. This is a movie I never heard about, but if you want a "sleeper", this is it. Great writing, production, and acting. I highly recommend it for audiences who want something thoughtful. Nick Nolte, Sheryl Lee and Alan Arkin are marvelous. Why wasn't more made of this movie?