Last Letters from Monte Rosa

Im very touched your work and speechless. Its brilliant. The work that you done as a director on this is simply amazing and your sensitivity towards your story, crew, cast, cultures, humor is so real and honest that it shines out of every frame. You really mastered it all until you where finished and its my honor to watch your finished first feature film. There is simply nothing that could have been done better. The sound - the edit - I was so with all your characters and the choice you made to show people at war you held through the very end of the film. I cant imagine how much work this all was for you - how much swamped ; ) THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS - THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT FILM. Its amazing how you felt for everybody there and it will be my great honor to bring this film to my little community where I was raised in Austria. Im sure that everyone will be thankful to see a movie from this time that is not judging anyone but truly shows how things change in times of war. The love and respect you showed for each character and your crew crosses the images to my heart and I feel very happy to have met you here in Brooklyn. Thanks for the DVD you gave me. The thing is - it does not feel like you gave me a DVD, you gave me the largest gift a men could give.

With all my respect; Ulli Gruber

This film has all the quintessential elements a film should possess-a superb cast, an untold story delivered from a unique perspective, wonderful writing interspersed with moments both light and humorous as well as thought-provoking, and a wonderful director at its helm. It beautifully conveys the banality of everyday life for front-line troops combined with the sheer terror of modern warfare and enables the American viewer to empathize with an enemy fighter in a way that few war movies have done in the past. Although I was surprised by the high level of realism and technical detail achieved by the film, it was the relationship of the German and Italian soldiers, a relationship that has rarely been explored despite Hollywood's obvious fascination with the European theater, that truly carried the film. The tension-filled, yet often comical dynamic between the downtrodden soldiers of the two armies, seemingly fighting for dramatically divergent goals, fully captivated me, allowing me to forget that the American GI was little more than an afterthought in the film. A film that is particularly relevant for our times and should be viewed by all-highly recommended!

This was a highly entertaining, informative and enjoyable movie. I loved the fact that it was written in Italian and German and particularly that the viewpoint was in the same languages. What a wonderful story, never told, about the Italian regular Army's relationship with the German occupation, pitted against a resistance which would ultimately succeed by default. It was wonderfully told story shot, edited and directed the grand style befitting such a tale. I couldn't believe the wonderful casting and how it appeared as if they were from the era they were depicting. Because of the nativity of the men there seemed actually to be the inscrutability of reality and honesty in their portrayals, almost as if they were channeling the horror the people who had experienced WWII on own turfs. George Wienbarg

What I really enjoyed about Ari's film, is the humanism in the face of war. We think of war as very dark and scary. And it is. Yet, there is more to life and more to humans than the focus of war itself. And there is always more than one side of 'the truth'.

In "Last Letters from Monte Rosa", we see the internal conflicts, as well as the external and how human beings relate and interact with one another, in a forced situation. We are shown that we can't escape ourselves. The heart will still have a place even in a time of war. And how different people can form unique bonds of understanding with one another and face their own individual challenges under difficult circumstances.

I really think that showing the heart of what it means to be human is Ari's strength. I hope Ari continues to make films showing the just how 'human' our lives are.

I was privileged to see this film at a small venue in Jupiter, FL called the Atlantic Theater. The only thing I had heard about this movie was that it was a WWII film told from the perspective of the Germans and Italians. It was funny at times, poignant at others. It wasn't an overtly grotesque viewing of war...it was told in moments between real people with real fears and needs. I literally would laugh one moment, then cry the next. The movie has subtitles, but the beauty of both languages, Italian and German, being spoken by the actors brought the audience into the reality of the lives of these characters. It is about love of your country, the pull of the glory of war combined with the exhaustion and degradation. The desperation as one realizes that it's not all it's cracked up to be, while realizing that it is the path you have chosen, good or bad. Never preachy, as some WWII films can be....from either side.

A great film with a talented cast,director and writers. More people need to see this...it will bring a perspective that has not been seen...ever to my knowledge.