Die verlorene Zeit

As of this writing, there are 1894 films on my IMDb list. If I rate them by excellence, this would be in the top three. If I listed only war and Holocaust movies, it would be Number 1 (The Boy In The Striped Pajamas would be number two.) The story is brilliant. The acting is magnificent. The low key photography and the often bleak weather settings fit the story perfectly. And the ending... No spoiler here. Let's just say my wife and I will discuss the ending many times. Powerful, powerful stuff yet understated, its fierce emotions (love, hate, suspicion,anger, fear) often conveyed without words, just superb facial gestures and expressions. It's also quite an accomplishment to make any film --- much less a superb one like this --- in four languages (English, German, Polish, Russian) I saw no listing of awards. It deserves any number of them! Screening this remarkable film more than makes up for all the bad movies --- perhaps 60% of those 1894 entries --- that I've endured over the years. If cinema is indeed an art form, this is a Van Gogh!

I really enjoyed this movie. Well acted by all, with an exceptional performance by Susanne Lothar as Stefania: Her face can convey an entire page of dialogue without a word. The cinematography was wonderful as well, darkness playing a large part of dark subject matter. Stories like this one tend to get lost over time while the major battles and often-told hero accounts stay in the public's mind. I'm sure this isn't the only concentration camp love story to be told, but it gives the observer a view they may never have imagined. Much time and thought...and possibly discussion...will be given to the ending, I promise you that. See it; you won't be disappointed.

My wife & I headed out to the movies, we only have a small local theatre and the choice was World War Z, After Earth or this. I'm very glad we chose this movie.

Without giving anything away, I strongly recommend this movie, it is superbly made & acted, though at times some of the camera work was lacking (grainy darks, odd colours), not sure if this was intentional or not, but it wasn't too distracting.

Subtitles are always a hit with me, I much prefer movies in their native languages. Again, not distracting at all and easy to follow.

No big names that most people would recognise bar one and his is not a lead role.

I'll leave the various themes & meanings to other reviewers. I just go to watch & enjoy.

I recommend.

Remembrance very quickly alerts the viewer to the horrors of a concentration camp. It's not a death camp, in fact it seems to be a bakery, but the constant insults and shouting of orders, and the way prisoners have learnt to be automatically deferential to their captors, is palatable. It's a bit of an eye-opener and worth a look just for that. The escape is knife-edged, also worth a look. The movie continues to be poignant by reproducing some common dilemmas and attitudes toward known at that time, even when in relative safety. As a war movie it's a great story. The contrast with 1971 New York is given in parallel throughout but is not too intrusive if you're only really interested in the story 1944-45, but I would question the need for it at all. Added to that is the problem of the younger/older versions of the heroine bearing very little physical similarities aside from height and hair colour. And in regard to the 1971 aspect, whilst I know as a baby boomer myself, and having grown up surrounded by war veterans, all of whom tended to be overly serious and dismissive of my generation, that the apparent meanness of the couple later in life shown here is probably a true reflection, quite frankly, as a movie, well, it was hard to watch. That's what is keeping my score here down to a 7. If you liked movies like Sophie's Choice (1982) then you'll probably like this one. Given it's a true story and a very competent piece of film theatre, with good sets/actors/locations/cameras, Remembrance is easy to recommend.

I stumbled across this gem of a film on Netflix, and it had four out of five stars, so I figured I would give it a shot. I am so glad I took the time to watch it. The storyline is nothing short of amazing, and after viewing the movie, I did some research, and found that it is based on a true story. Visually stunning, with a beautiful score to match, Remembrance kept me hypnotized for two hours solid. Considering I am a bit of a critic when it comes to love stories, I was shocked by how powerfully moving this one was. It broke my heart in two. I won't go into details about the plot, because frankly, I think this is one of those works of art that should be experienced and not described. I will just say, watch it for yourself. It is well worth the time.