Muito Mais que um Crime

I was astounded in reading the comments on these films to see people saying that Armin Muehler-Stall's character is flat and empty.Also, those that say his angry outbursts are not threatening.

My father is a Hungarian immigrant who I have wondered where he has a similar "true story". I can say from personal experience that Armin's performances are consistent with my father's outbursts and for me personally were terrifying when seeing the movie.

In terms of the generalization that the performance was "flat", there is a cold, clinical, almost sociapathic sense to some elderly Hungarians. Additionally, I found Jessica Lange's performance COMPLETELY believeable as someone raised under such strong expectations and often silent or restrained about true expressions of emotion or fear.

That's my two cents. DO NOT underestimate the ACCURACY of this film.

The movie is based on the case of the alleged war criminal John Demjanjuk whose American citizenship was revoked and he was extradited to Israel for trial. In Israel, he finally was acquitted for lack of evidence. In the movie Costa-Gavras does have a strong opinion about the case, but in real life the all-important question "guilty or not guilty" was never answered properly.

A good movie, too good to stay in the cinemas for a long time.

A thought-provoking and intelligent film dealing with brooding and interesting deeds. The picture blends courtroom thriller, political post-boiler and domestic melodrama. It revolves around an advocate at law, Jessica Lange, defending her father , a too quiet Armin Mueller Stahl, of being a Hungarian war criminal, accused to commit grisly massacres in Hungary. The allegedly good father is a retired Hungarian blue-collar living in Chicago these last 37 years and is today framed of being head of a Hungary Special Section, a death squadron under Nazi supervision . If she loses, her daddy faces deportation charges, and then juzged at Hungary by a strict and expeditive criminal court . As the case progresses, she must struggle to remain objective, but things go wrong.

Very fine drama with emotion, suspense, intrigue and a curiously impactanting finale. This thoughtful film provides a series of portrayals of some ethnic roles who result to be highly convincing. Awesome interpretation from Jessica Lange as the obstinate solicitor who comes to terms with the possibility his dad is culprit and adequate acting by Armin Mueller Stahl as the accused father who faces extradition counts . Most of the other interpretations are fine, as Donald Moffat, Frederic Forest as the prosecutor attorney, Cheryl Bruce, Michael Rooker as lawyer's boyfriend and a little boy, Lukas Hass, in spite his age he gives one of the best performances.

It contains an evocative and sensitive musical score by Philippe Sarde, including Hungarian and ethnic sounds. As well as atmospheric and appropriate cinematography by Patrick Blossier, being shot on location in Chicago and Budapest, Hungary . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Constantin Costa Gavras. He is a veteran filmmaker with a long career, nowadays, he's directing still, including several provoking, political and engaging movies, such as : Z, State of siege, The confession, The sleeping car murders, Missing, Hanna K, Conseil de Familie, Betrayed, Mad city, Amen, The axe, among others. Rating 8/10. Above average. Essential and indispensable seeing. Well worth watching.

Jessica Lange is very good as Ann Talbot, a lawyer who takes up the task of defending her father (Armin Mueller-Stahl) against charges of Nazi war crimes. The charges are ridiculous to her at first, but she slowly begins to realize they might be true. Lukas Haas, giving an exceptionally bright-eyed and intelligent performance, plays Ann's 12-year-old son, who believes unquestioningly that his beloved grandfather is innocent.

Roger Ebert wrote that the father, while very well-played by Mueller-Stahl, does not devote enough time to helping us to understand his character, but I don't know that any film could do that for such a person. Mueller-Stahl and the script at least offer suggestions and let our imaginations do the rest.

I found this film, scripted by Joe Eszterhas and directed by Costa-Gavras, to be a quietly effective courtroom thriller (even though the idea of a lawyer defending her own father in this situation requires a high suspension of disbelief) and found the central drama of a woman discovering her father is, or at least was, a monster to be moving.

The film won the Golden Bear for the Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival.

The film rests on the original screenplay by Joe Eszterhas, the commendable performances of Jessica Lange (Oscar nominated performance), the enigmatic Armin-Mueller Stahl, and the wonderful Hungarian actress Mari Torocsik (best known for her lead role in Karoly Makk's 1971 film "Love") playing a brief but important role in this film, and of course the typical Costa-Gavras direction that relies on editing and music to a subtle perfection.

The importance of the script of this film will not be obvious to many because the importance came to the fore long after the film won the Golden Bear. Mr Eszterhas' own real life father was a Hungarian who migrated to the US and was found to be a Nazi collaborator just as the film's story presents its lead character. The scriptwriter arguably knew or suspected this when he wrote the script. Many of the original scripts of Eszterhas,("Basic Instinct", "Sliver," "Betrayed," "Jade," etc.) deal with a hidden personality in people that we trust/love. He has been conferred with several Razzie awards but his work needs to be appreciated as important works of a tormented mind that provided entertainment for us without the viewers realizing this.