A Parede

THE WALL is an interesting--though people who want a really tangible storyline and/or fast action and suspense might choose the word "boring"--little film.

How to describe it? Quiet, somber, original, going deep without trying too hard. Fantastic in the most literal sense. Well-acted and well-filmed: The Austrian Alpine scenery, perhaps the single best thing about THE WALL, is just spectacular. Still, there are a number of plot-holes and incomplete threads, things that don't add up and are not apparently supposed to--"Kafkaesque" is another word that kept running through my mind as I watched.

Though it's nothing great, I'm happy to have seen THE WALL and, most of all, am eager to read the original novel by Marlen Haushofer, which, even if it doesn't make completely logical sense, based on the reviews, apparently has more sense of completion.

I came here after viewing this very odd film and I expected to read an equal amount of bad and good reviews and I wasn't incorrect. I'm sort of in the middle. This is most assuredly not a film for everyone. It has to be classified as science fiction, but it rarely feels like one. A woman goes to spend a weekend in a isolated cabin and is kept captive by some sort of invisible wall or force field of some sort. Rather than sci-fi, this plays like some sort of cerebral meditation on the joys and pain of loneliness, mostly the latter. This film also involves numerous animals and the trapped character's connection with them. Some of this aspect is touching, but some of it is difficult to watch, especially one scene. This is no doubt slow as some have been critical of, but I found quite a bit of it sort of intriguing. It is a one woman show starring the acclaimed German actress, Martina Gedeck. There were a few things that annoyed me, primarily a couple of things not explored, but overall this is an interesting film for the serious minded viewer.

This is a film that has left such an impression on me that I was very curious what other viewers interpretations of it were. I felt the beauty and despair of loneliness. The connection humans can have with nature and above all... animals, our need for them not only to fill our void socially and emotionally, but as creatures to sustain our life in all ways. Even if to give us a purpose.

The irony that she was there on a hunting trip with friend that she obviously was not partaking in, but had probably not thought much about . I appreciated that she really understood that hunting should only be for food and could not understand how any being could take pleasure out of death of an animal.

The vivid beauty of Austria was captivating. This is a beautiful film that I will never quite forget. It has reminded me of how strong humans can be when they have to be to survive, how fragile we are, and how our brains have the capability to adapt to situations that are unexplainable when all feels hopeless.

Confusing, narrated, strange, and difficult to follow. Too many questions regarding the actions of the main character. I don't know about you, but I'd have done so many other, different, and direct things than this main character in order to extract myself from my current situation. The wall: did the river run through it? Was it like a dome? Was it bulletproof? Would it be possible to dig beneath it? Were animals affected by it? Maybe I should just write a story about it... no, that would be boring. In order to change or alter my situation, I would have to do something different each day. The lead and only character was satisfied with her predicament. I do wonder, however, about the end result.

A woman, a dog, one of the most beautiful places of the world. It's hard to say more about this movie without saying too much.

It has a very well crafted, tight script, well chosen music and great cinematography, both in plain light and in deep darkness, in open land and closed quarters.

There is no waste in this film, everything fits. The acting is nuanced, controlled. The sense of menace is achieved with lighting and camera work. No false scares, no misleadings, no cheap shocks.

This tale of survival and endurance, ultimately about the meaning of humanity, is a moving masterpiece that will stay with me a long time.