Filip

Well, well, well, what a wonderful surprise!

This movie was a journey into wartime survival. More than survival, being alive! Living. At great cost, at great risk, and with great "reward?". Beautiful at times, not "pretty". To the contrary. There's just enough joy, humanity, friendship, sex, laughter and perhaps love on the screen, to keep you from loosing all faith in mankind. At a time of such inhumanity.

Then and now.

The perfect time to see this movie?

Great performances by the way, especially Eryk Kulm. Deliciously sexy, angry, savage at times. Emotional, satisfying and powerful. Victor Meutelet and Caroline Hartig, really the entire ensemble did an incredible job. So glad we're able to see wonderful European movies on Netflix.

No. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. However for those who can appreciate other "perspectives" in life, cinema, storytelling, art and yes, history. Drink up! Loved it.

I don't usually go for foreign language films but I chose this movie as it had been filmed where I live in Torun, Poland. I'm so glad I decided to see it. It's a very well-made drama set in Frankfurt during WW2. The story focuses on the central character of Filip who is actually a Jewish Pole passing off to be a Frenchman. Despite being a Polish film the language is 80% German with some French and Polish thrown in. I highly recommend this film. It's thought-provoking and also riveting. It was also great to see my beloved Torun up on the big screen. It had been converted very well into 1940s Germany and it looked great.

After having seen over 200+ movies and shows about the second world war, I have actually never seen what this movie so clearly shows... During the peak of warfare - i.e. As of 1942 - many german men already perished at the eastern front or are still on active duty in some non-german country. So, that basically leaves many german cities with a lot more women than men. And as a young adult single male, residing in a large city like Frankfurt must have gathered a lot of attention from the female counterpart. And that's regardless of the women being single or married, with their husband serving in the army or SS.

Based on true events, this movie is about life as a non-german "foreigner" in Frankfurt. It shows how german people see relationships with non-germans. A showcase of not only german discrimination, but even more so the cruel practices of the SS (Gestapo), it makes one aware of how evil humanity can be to its own kind.

A combination of very good acting and some very convincing movie sets of the 1940's era, the movie "transports" the viewer to Frankfurt during WW2.

Overall, this movie deserves a score of 7.4/10, just barely missing the point where it would have received an 8-star IMDb rating.

Unusual angle for a WW2 story with a specific refugee situation I have never seen evoked in a WW2 movie. The Polish young man at the center of this story is a difficult "hero" to like in spite of his obvious plight, because of his brutally hard shell and the death wish at time that seems to motivate his acts against his survival skills. But his moral evolution can be understood well enough, and the unknowns in his trajectory can be easily imagined. Meanwhile life in the Stuttgart hotel where he works in 1943 as a presumed French waiter is a microcosm of what happens to Germany as despair, decay, food scarcity, army defeats and survival needs vs morality sketch the end in sight for the crumbling nazi empire. I liked how the movie mixed German, Polish, French, Italian and (maybe?) yiddish dialogues seamlessly. Subtitles in my eyes are not a problem but an enhancement to a story like that. It is a story of survival in a foreign land under brutal circumstances: varied languages are a necessary part of the hostile landscape. The actor who plays the main role is perfect in his ability to charm and scare at the same time.

The portrait of a surviver. A young Pole man, losting his family, working, grace to help of a friend, in great hotel, hidding his identity , having sex, succes and terrible cynism about life.

Discovering true love and true friendship. And understanding, after lost of best friend, after revenge , than he can survive only being alone.

Beautiful locations, nice story, interesting performances . A testimony , in other manner than ordinary one, about life under totalitarian regime. Not original idea but Eryk kulm has the precious science to offer to his Filip the right traits to be more than another Jew in terrible circumstances. A nice work of Victor Meutelet as Pierre.

A film about what real matters. Not impressive but honest at whole.