Irmãs Gêmeas

Normally I don't see movies as good as this one. I happened across this film one night when I had nothing to do. I saw the title and thought it would be a mushy story about twin sisters...all rainbows and glitter. I was pleasantly surprised and thought the whole concept behind the story was genius. Not only is the story wonderful the movie quality is wonderful. It is now ranked among my favorite films. This movie truly embraces what it was like to be on both sides of the war. I found myself sympathizing with Anna even though I feel as negatively as I do about Hitler and Nazi Germany. I also deeply sympathized with Lotte and the suffering she and her fiancé went threw. In the end I wanted them to put it all behind them and embrace each other again.

"De Tweeling" is more than just another WW II drama and truly adds something and is made interesting by a very good story.

The story is truly the power of this movie. It shows the perspective of WW II from the Dutch as well as the German side, which makes this movie really interesting and powerful. It shows how the twin sisters that already didn't had any contact for years are driven further out of each other because of WW II. It doesn't only show the Nazi-German military perspective of war but also that of the German civilians and in a way helps you to understand why so many Germans supported the Nazi's in WW II. It's a shame that there are still some "typical book elements" present in the movie that I sure work fine in the book but not in the movie, including the typical book ending (I say no more.).

The acting is for especially Dutch standards pretty high. Jeroen Spitzenberger acts magnificent but of course also the German actors pull of very well.

There are some excellent and impressive scene's. The movie doesn't show any gore or horror of WW II but focuses on the emotional effects of it on individuals and especially the twin sisters of course, of which one grew up in the Netherlands and the other in Germany. It doesn't only show the effects of the relationship between the two during the war but also long after it.

I even like it a bit better as "The Pianist".

9/10

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Twin Sisters is a truly excellent film detailing how social and war experiences influence lives and drive people apart. It is a vein in Dutch film making which has already resulted in other critically acclaimed films like The Assault (1985). The central premise of separated twins growing up under different circumstances in different social circles has been explored in literature before, for example in the novel "Kronprinsarna" (1972) by Swedish author Lars Ardelius, but the novel "Twins" (1993) by Tessa de Loo has the added element of the Second World War and all the suffering that it entailed. The film follows the novel quite closely which has resulted in a richly layered drama in which nothing is as black and white as history may make us believe. The SS-officer is a reluctant soldier and a loving husband, while the culture-loving Dutchman hiding Jews in his house is a reluctant hero and a petty man. Through the eyes of the twin sisters we are able to appreciate the war experience of German and Dutch people and understand how it drove people apart and how hard it was for them to reconcile. The attempts of the German sister to reach out to her twin even at a very advanced age make for some very moving drama that will leave no one indifferent.

De tweeling is the best dutch film up until this point. It was surprisingly well made for a dutch production. With more votes it would become a top 250 movie and I think it deserves to be. A few years ago I almost cried because of the Green Mile. This movie almost brought to tears too. It takes very much for my cold hart to be touched. Not only was I touched by the story but also the quality of this production.

Unfortunately the government wants to stop funding the dutch movieindustry. That'll be the end great dutch movies like de tweeling.

I read the book, De Tweeling by Tessa de Loo, and I must say that the movie most certainly lived up to the high quality of the book, in some ways even surpassed it.

The movie is about two little girls, obviously twins, who tragically get separated. One to work on a farm, the other to live with rich relatives in The Netherlands to recover from her tbc. The movie then jumps to present where to two elderly sisters meet again in a spa. However, their meeting is far from loving and it becomes clear that some scar from the past obstructs the reunion of these two sisters.

The movie then brilliantly uses flashbacks to reveal the scar that has separated the two for life, and it mostly comes down to the second world war, both living and experiences it in a different way and place.