Music Box

Awright, I don't approve of all your politics, Mr. Costa Gavras, particularly in "State of Siege" and "Hanna K.", but in this one you truly excel, both in terms of authenticity and a willingness to stay unprovocative when dealing with a sensitive issue as the Holocaust.

The movie is supposed to have been inspired by the real-life case of John Demjanjuk, an Ohio resident accused of war crimes at Treblinka and Sobibor, extradited to Israel for trial in the mid 80's. The movie even has a brief reference to this Demjanjuk guy when someone tries to pronounce his complicated last name in a conversation with Jessica Lange. Costa Gavras seems to be intrigued by our very perception of the Holocaust and our ambivalent approach toward it. Lawyer Ann Talbot's Hungarian-born father is accused of war crimes, her ex-father-in-law is somewhat scornful towards the inviolability of the Holocaust, and even had drinks with "those monsters" when the West used ex-Nazis as spies against Communism. Not to mention the difficulty of prosecuting war crimes 40 odd years later when justice can be won by either concocted evidence or the cunning of legal argument, and historical truth becomes less important.

The courtroom scenes and dialogues are truly remarkable in their restraint, and give the viewer just enough background as is needed about the atrocities of Arrow Cross in Hungary between 1944 and 1945. Specially the testimony of one Mr. Bodai is awesome, that of man so much ravaged by horror that his delivery is almost a monotone, with little emotional difference between responding a "yes" and a "no".

But it is Jessica Lange that outshines everyone else in performance, may be one of her best ever.

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.

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.

The film won the Golden Bear for the Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival.

The film rests on the original screenplay by Joe Eszterhas, the commendable performances of Jessica Lange (Oscar nominated performance), the enigmatic Armin-Mueller Stahl, and the wonderful Hungarian actress Mari Torocsik (best known for her lead role in Karoly Makk's 1971 film "Love") playing a brief but important role in this film, and of course the typical Costa-Gavras direction that relies on editing and music to a subtle perfection.

The importance of the script of this film will not be obvious to many because the importance came to the fore long after the film won the Golden Bear. Mr Eszterhas' own real life father was a Hungarian who migrated to the US and was found to be a Nazi collaborator just as the film's story presents its lead character. The scriptwriter arguably knew or suspected this when he wrote the script. Many of the original scripts of Eszterhas,("Basic Instinct", "Sliver," "Betrayed," "Jade," etc.) deal with a hidden personality in people that we trust/love. He has been conferred with several Razzie awards but his work needs to be appreciated as important works of a tormented mind that provided entertainment for us without the viewers realizing this.

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.