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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.

If youve read more than one of my review, you'll realise that they're not meant to be film critic standard. This ones not different. This isn't a bad film, but it is stretched, taking a story which is interesting, and over playing it. That said its worth a watch, as the story, whilst not entirely original, is apparently true, and reasonably well told. It could just have done with some more editing to lose about half an hour or so.

A fairly low budget production and it shows. Too many scenes shot in the same location. Too little lighting; most scenes are way too dark, and too much loud music. Probably laid over the top to increase the atmosphere, but it's at the cost of being able to hear and understand the dialogue.

There's also too much background noise playing on a loop. I.e. The sound of troops marching. And once you've noticed it, you can't stop noticing it.

All I can say is; thank goodness for fast forward.

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.

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.

A great war drama! Based on a true story! Brilliant performance of Harvey Keitel the other actors. Amongst many other things the movie contains two very important messages:

1. "It could happen again! "

2. "An ordinary man could be a hero and achieve impossible things in unusual circumstances"

I would strongly recommend it!

It is interesting to read fairy tails but not when they are presented as historical facts. I am the central director for the Hungarian Gendarmerie (Csendor) Veterans Organization and I am appalled by this film. The film's negative stereotype depiction of the csendors goes even beyond the distorted propaganda films of the communist era. The film shows a total disregard for the truth. If csendors were to have behaved as was shown in the film, they would not only have been discharged from the gendarmerie but would have been imprisoned. The depiction of the csendors in every respect is incorrect. It is clear that Mr.DeMercur has no knowledge of the functioning of the csendors yet he has the gall to write such tripe as Chosen. It is offensive and an insult to Hungary, Hungarians, and the historical truth.

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.

Bad actors, bad costume production, bad effects, bad script development, bad historical research. It is entertaining but very unfit

Yes, it might split opinion, but I'd advise you to err with the knowledge that IMDB ratings usually are on the high side.

Don't be swayed by complaints of negativity reviews on political grounds. It's a movie for god's sake and a slow, plodding one at that. Yes, it's a 'worthy' topic and, at times, a harrowing tale but let's portray it as a movie and not play out events in real time.

Presumably in an attempt to add import and gravitas, Harvey Keitel's delivery is often painfully slow. Which makes those parts of the movie painfully slow. We're actually talking about pace here. It's fine for a movie to be 'slow' if it holds the viewer and drags you long with the scene. This one doesn't.

And although the movie's concept is full of potential, it makes the entire movie interminably, painfully slow! A fault which can only be laid squarely at the door of the director. Thank god he didn't write the screenplay, too, otherwise we'd still be watching it!

There are moments of tension and action but they don't make up for the other sections. It's very unevenly paced.

There's a 'reveal' at the end but if you haven't caught onto it in the first 5 minutes you've probably been asleep. Lucky you.

Otherwise you may be tempted to walk out or switch off after a gruelling 30 mins of boredom. It would be nice to say, don't, it's worth the wait but that wouldn't be true. Hang around if you'r a major war story aficionado otherwise don't bother watching in the first place.

The parts with the old man and the grand son is fine but the story is very badly executed.

I saw this movie with my girlfriend in LA and we both thought it was a cool WW2 movie, beautifully shot and skilfully directed with a large ensemble of actors who all delivered convincing performances. We felt deeply moved by its human story of true love in times of war and it just strikes the perfect balance between our main character's inner turmoil of emotions, against the mercilessly brutal outer world. I haven't heard of this director, but he did some great work with the performances, the action scenes and with the sound. The music in particular is just heart breaking. Do not miss the chance to see this movie on the big screen! It's more relevant today then ever before!

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

**Don't believe the ratings at all,this is a great resistance movie**

The bad ratings are a result of hatred from a certain community or people who have different views about the historical facts.

Let me start by saying this that if you're crazy about watching war movies and period movies you should definitely go for this and if you're still skeptical about it then don't take just my word for it and watch the trailer for yourself.

The acting of Mr. Luke Mably is very powerful,magnificent and absolutely stunning in this war drama. The way Mr. Luke Mably acts and portrays his role in this movie is such that you'll jump from your seat at times and will always leave you wondering and excited of what's going to happen next.

This movie deserves much more ratings and views and deserves to be in the list of all good war era movies ever made. I would highly recommend you to watch this and make up your own mind of how you want to rate it instead of believing the unacceptable ratings that has been given to it by people.

****Highly Recommended****

I enjoyed this movie, though I admit I skimmed part of it. The screenplay was very good, and the suffering to the Jews very real, Sonson, a young man stands up for the oppressed and fights back.

Having been to Yad Vashem on several occasions the film was very vivid, particularly of the resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Am Yisrael Chai!

My wife and I found this film to be absolutely extraordinary. This film has an amazing plot and was excellently produced. We also noticed that people whose family members committed atrocities during World War Two have been trying very hard to demolish the quality of this film in their reviews. People should be aware of the crimes of the Hungarian Csendors before the outbreak of WW2. People should witness the history. In Novi Sat, Subotica, Vojvodina, among other places, the Csendor massacred a great number of Serbs, Communists and Jews, with Hitler's backing. The Csendor were an integral part of the Nazi killing machine. They loyally picked up Jewish people in the villages and put them on the animal train into Auschwitz. The authorities should take action against Csendor sympathisers to stop their effort to whitewash history.