Lettere da Berlino

Greetings again from the darkness. When war hits close to home, the grieving of surviving family members never ends. At the end of World War II, author Hans Fallada was given access to the Gestapo file of Otto and Elise Hampel. Fallada wrote a 1947 novel based on their story, and in 2009 it was translated to English for his bestseller "Every Man Dies Alone". Director Vincent Perez collaborated with Achim von Borries and Bettine von Borries to adapt the novel for the big screen.

Otto (Brendan Gleeson) and Elise (Emma Thompson) play a mostly quiet, working class couple who pay the ultimate price for a cause in which they don't believe. Their protest takes the form of a clandestine 2 person operation. They systematically distribute postcards with anti-Hitler messages … nearly 300 of the cards between 1940 and 1942. It's a drip campaign that takes the form of non-violent political resistance, and certainly rankles those of the Third Reich.

Daniel Bruhl plays Escherich, the Nazi officer put in charge of the investigation (labeled Operation: Hobgoblin). He is charged with finding the source of the cards and punishing those responsible. As the hunt drags on, Escherich is presented as a Nazi with a conscience, and bears the brunt of his superior's frustration, while living in as much fear as those he is chasing.

The film has a somber tone, and somehow never generates the tension or dread that this couple must have been dealing with on a daily basis for so long. In fact, Alexandre Desplat's score seems to fit a movie much more intense than what we are watching on screen. Mr. Gleeson delivers his usual grounded and believable performance despite a script that could have used a bit more potency. The film does deliver the always powerful message of having no regrets when you are standing up for what's right.

Having come close to losing a son in Afghanistan I could entirely relate to the despair and cold anger at the lies and injustice, the central characters felt. I was overwhelmed with emotion and the movie stayed with me for days.

Both Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson turn in outstanding performances, as do a number of the supporting cast members. The film allows a window into the fear, shame, and hopelessness the German people must have felt, as the war progressed and the true reality of the impacts of allowing rampant thuggery, cruelty and bigotry into power, was revealed. Parallels perhaps to certain events going on in the world today?

Brendan Gleeson is an outstanding actor who depicts ' everyman' with authenticity. This movie being a case in point. Without any histrionics this movie delivers. The ending was unanticipated and well crafted. The fact that it is a true story only adds to its power. Highly recommended.

this is not a terrible movie, but it's hard to capture to real terror of Nazism. the book is a tough read but it's as near as I've seen to reality. the total fear of carrying out even the most trivial oppositional act. the certainty that your life is endangered if anyone knows what you're doing - even if it's your family. people always think they would have been in the resistance, but likely they wouldn't. this movie does a reasonable job of showing that only those with nothing to lose would even think about it.

This is not a happy story. It is story that opens your eyes. We have talked about it a lot since. We felt like it was something that should be seen. I would recommend it for folks curious about that era and that place in time. It seems impossible now, but you know its not. Real life stories like this tell something more for me than the big picture story.

"Alone in Berlin" (German-French-British co-production; 2016 release; 105 min.) brings the story of a German couple, Otto and Anna. As the movie opens, we see a young German soldier running through the weeods, and he is shot and killed. The young man's parents, Otto and Anna, are informed by letter of his death, and they don't know how to cope with this tragic news. Eventually Otto decides to speak up against the Nazis, and Hitler in particular, by leaving provocative postcards (such as: "Hitler is a liar, Hitler is a killer") in prominent public places. Anna joins him in these potentially dangerous tasks. Eventually, the Nazis become aware of this, and a manhunt is started... At this point we're 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from Swiss actor/writer/producer/director Vincent Perez. Here he takes what amounts to a footnote in the annals of WWII and makes it, or at least tries to make it, into an epic battle between an elderly couple and the Nazi establishment. At certain moments, in particularly later in the film, it works quite well. But there are too many times that the films truly feels staged, I mean you can practically hear the director yell "and.... ACTION!", and an entire street with 1940s cars comes alive. The lead performances by Emma Thompson (as Anna) and Brendan Gleeson (as Otto) are fine, as they bring a quiet dignity to this couple that is so outraged by the tragic death of their son. Incidentally, it isn't until the closing credits that we get confirmation this movie is based on true events, and Otto and Elise really did exist (why they changed the woman's name to Anna, is not clear to me). Still, when all is said and done, it feels to me like the movie didn't quite carry this to its full potential, and that's a shame.

I had heard of this movie, but never had a chance to see it in the theater. I did catch it recently on Showtime. If you are interested in WWII, even if only a footnote of it, I'd suggest you check this out, be it on TV or VOD, or on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.