L'Elu

I saw this movie with my girlfriend in LA and we both thought it was a cool WW2 movie, beautifully shot and skilfully directed with a large ensemble of actors who all delivered convincing performances. We felt deeply moved by its human story of true love in times of war and it just strikes the perfect balance between our main character's inner turmoil of emotions, against the mercilessly brutal outer world. I haven't heard of this director, but he did some great work with the performances, the action scenes and with the sound. The music in particular is just heart breaking. Do not miss the chance to see this movie on the big screen! It's more relevant today then ever before!

If youve read more than one of my review, you'll realise that they're not meant to be film critic standard. This ones not different. This isn't a bad film, but it is stretched, taking a story which is interesting, and over playing it. That said its worth a watch, as the story, whilst not entirely original, is apparently true, and reasonably well told. It could just have done with some more editing to lose about half an hour or so.

A fairly low budget production and it shows. Too many scenes shot in the same location. Too little lighting; most scenes are way too dark, and too much loud music. Probably laid over the top to increase the atmosphere, but it's at the cost of being able to hear and understand the dialogue.

There's also too much background noise playing on a loop. I.e. The sound of troops marching. And once you've noticed it, you can't stop noticing it.

All I can say is; thank goodness for fast forward.

A great war drama! Based on a true story! Brilliant performance of Harvey Keitel the other actors. Amongst many other things the movie contains two very important messages:

1. "It could happen again! "

2. "An ordinary man could be a hero and achieve impossible things in unusual circumstances"

I would strongly recommend it!

In modern times, an old man (Harvey Keitel) tells a young boy about his life during the war. It's 1943 Hungary. Sonson (Luke Mably) suffers as forced labor for the Nazis. They are hounded by the Hungarian police as the Nazis and their collaborators deport the Jews. Sonson joins a rebellion against the occupiers.

There is a scattered narrative flow with nothing new going on in this movie. It's a mistake to show Sonson as an old man which guarantees his survival through the entire ordeal. Mably doesn't have the greatest charisma and the movie doesn't give his character much substance. No other character has any substance at all. This has no tension despite the movie trying to ramp up the melodrama with the music cues at the wrong times. At most other times, this is quietly dull without the needed tension. It's also not the highest of production value. The directing is weak. It's functional at best but not much more.