Muito Mais que um Crime

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.

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.

Excellent performances by Armin Mueller-Stahl and Jessica Lange (and even Michael Rooker in a thankless role) make "The Music Box" well-worth seeing (and seeing again). I also appreciated Costa-Gavras's establishing shots such as the dizzying image in a large building as Lazlo and his daughter go up an elevator to meet with federal prosecutors, pigeons on the window sill of the court room, etc. I liked the way Chicago and Budapest are used in the movie as two poles of the story. It is true that a few things do not make sense. Ann Talbot (Lange) accuses the US prosecutor (Frederick Forest) of letting the Hungarian government dictate his case, and the US does seem to rely entirely on Hungarian evidence, never bothering to look for any evidence west of Budapest. There is something to be said, however, for the suspension of disbelief. If the US prosecutors were not so incompetent, then it would not be entirely up to Talbot, the moral center of the movie, to uncover the truth and carry the responsibility for it entirely by herself. It is, by the way, the Hungarians and not the Russians whom Lazlo accuses of trying to frame him.

This film is of course a dangerous experiment with ingredients like: a court drama, holocaust 40 years after and absolute no action at all. But because of the great performances by the actors, it ends up as a deeply moving experience.

And at the very center, Jessica Lange does a tremendous job as the lawyer and daughter of a Hungarian war criminal - or is he? She appears in almost every picture of the film, and I find her very convincing in her emotional ups and downs throughout. She does it with no glamour, but alone her incredible personality.

Most of the other actors does a great job as well, and the only reason for not voting it in top is, that the plot is not too convincing - but it first became obvious some time after I watched the film, simply because of the fine acting.

I voted 9/10.

The movie focuses on two universal questions-do we actually know people we believe we do,including close ones,and does productive and outwardly respected life erase or diminish a past of hineous and sadistic crimes. I find the acting in the movie,including in the supporting roles,powerful.The courtroom scenes,with victims confronting a Hungarian ex SS man,deeply moving,and far from any cliche. worth noting is the senior lawyer,uttering his views about the holocaust to his grandson.One wonders what it will take to disrupt his aloof equanimity. I think that the movie has unique value,in light of the proliferation of the holocaust deniers,practitioners of historiographic hooliganism,by doing its part in telling us what happened.