Descending Angel

Eric Roberts plays the fiance of Diane Lane who discovers some unpleasant realities about his future father in law played by George C Scott. While the premise, exposing a nazi collaborator, is a good one, the film never really builds any suspense. On a scale of one to ten.. 6

If you ignore an ending that seems both rushed and highly unlikely, "Descending Angel" is totally acceptable, with a fine George C. Scott performance. Eric Roberts is going to be marrying Scott's daughter, and the movie revolves around an uneasy meeting with his future father in-law. When Roberts suspicion begins to build that Scott was part of a WW2 massacre of Jews, his fiancé, Diane Lane, is torn between her powerful father and her love for Roberts. Although the film is not perfect, mostly because of the flawed conclusion, it is different enough to maintain interest. Recommended for fans of George C. Scott, and Eric Roberts. - MERK

I actually didn't think that "Descending Angel," a 1990 production for HBO, was too awful, and I don't see what was historically inaccurate about it, referring back to a review on this site.

Eric Roberts plays Michael Rossi, who wants to marry Irinia Stroia (Diane Lane). They travel to the Stroia home to meet Irinia's formidable father Florian (George C. Scott) who is prominent in the community.

It doesn't take long for Michael to be told by a survivor of a Romanian concentration camp that Florian was a Nazi collaborator, something the family denies.

Disturbed, Michael investigates and learns that Florian was a member of the Iron Guard and responsible for the murders of men, women, and children. Confronted with this, Irinia is unable to accept the truth.

A review on this site said Romania was on the side of the Allies - well, that was at the end. Of all those joined with Nazi Germany, Romania was responsible for the deaths of more Jews than any country other than Germany itself.

It's true that their alliance with the Allies probably did shorten the war and save many lives. The Iron Guard made the harsh anti-Semitic legislation worse and enacted legislation directed against minority businessmen.

The acting is very good, with Eric Roberts giving a passionate performance, George C. Scott is fine as the guarded and stern Stroia, and a young Diane Lane is lovely as a woman torn between devotion to her father and accepting the reality of his past.

The end was abrupt and strange. The film did have some tense moments.

It's not as good as "The Music Box" but it's okay.

This drama compels us to feel empathetic towards an old Nazi war criminal because well, it's George C. Scott. Sorry no deal. Not only the plot is a shameful exploitation of historical tragedies to suit the Holocaust-slot-machine genre, but the film is a confusing, sloppy mess in many ways. It was made by HBO in the days before they were Game for Thrones. Eric Roberts is the hallmark to this "it's taboo but not risky" made-for-TV movie with lackluster direction. Roberts finds out that his father in law (Scott) was a prison guard at a WWII concentration camp, a Romanian collaborator to Nazis, and participated in some historical massacres. The script dictates that Scott not only massacred women and children in Romania, but continues to order murders to this day when anyone comes close to discovering his secret. Since Roberts knows the secret, his own life is in danger. The rest of the script simply aligns various nonsense, improbabilities, and implausibilities. Director Kagan isn't at all bad (The West Wing, The Journey of Natty Gann, The Sting II, The Big Fix, The Chosen) but this was one of his descending moments.

I thought Eric Roberts and Diane performances were trite in this film. Most of the time I couldn't wait for them to get off the screen. However I truely enjoyed Vyto Ruginis in this film as always. Scott was okay as well