Alone in Berlin
(2016)A working class German couple take to protesting the Nazis after losing their son at war. Nominated for the Golden Bear at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival.... More
"Anna (Emma Thompson) and Otto Quangel’s (Brendan Gleeson) son has been killed on the front line. They begin writing postcards as a form of resistance and in a bid to raise awareness: Stop the war machine! Kill Hitler! Putting their lives at risk, they distribute these cards in the entrances of tenement buildings and in stairwells. But the SS and the Gestapo are soon onto them, and even their neighbours pose a threat." (Berlin Film Festival)Hide
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Directed by Vincent Perez ('The Secret', 'Once Upon an Angel')
Starring Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, Brendan Gleeson, Mikael Persbrandt, Lars Rudolph, Uwe Preuss, Marko Dyrlich, Katrin Pollitt
Written by Vincent Perez, Achim von Borries, Bettine von Borries (based on the novel 'Every Man Dies Alone' by Hans Fallada)
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Alone in Berlin
BY cinemusefilm superstar
Based on real events, the story opens in a small flat in... More Berlin where Otto Quangel (Brendan Gleeson) and his wife Anna (Emma Thompson) learn that their son has died in battle. In a long marriage that is under strain, the news pushes them further apart as they cannot console each other in grief. Otto had encouraged his son to join the Nazi army and now Anna blames him for their loss. Desperate to voice his rage against Hitler’s regime, he painstakingly writes postcards and secretly leaves them on stairwells and doorways where they can be seen by passers-by: he calls them “small grains of sand in Hitler’s machine”. Initially he keeps Anna away from his dangerous mission, but she insists on being involved and they both become clandestine resistance fighters whose weapons are simple messages about the evils of Nazism. They manage to write and distribute over 260 cards despite extensive investigative efforts to stop them. In the process, they resurrect their marital relationship. After almost two years of card-writing they are caught and together face Nazi justice.
This film has two parallel narratives that start in opposition and end in convergence: one is Otto and Anna’s actions, the other is the investigation. The first is focused on the smallness of the couple’s actions in contrast to the enormous risk they are taking, like a pair of mice squeaking at roaring lions. The filming, colour palette and period setting are drab and lifeless; the atmosphere is paranoid with suspicion and mistrust; and the acting is subdued and understated. Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson are actors with broad performance repertoires but here they are minimalist in expression and Spartan in dialogue, with much being conveyed through furtive glances or avoided eye-contact. It is a slow-moving story, observant of small details in an alienated world. This has the effect of amplifying the intensity of Otto and Anna’s actions. Close-ups of a pen leaving a trail of outrage on a small white card become powerful portraits of bravery that are ultimately futile as most of the cards were handed in to authorities. The couple’s nemesis is a young German investigator (Daniel Bruhl) who pursues his work with ideological fervour for the Fuhrer but whose success turns into the film’s most devastating moments of despair.
This is a joyless story about humble heroism. Otto and Anna are emblematic of ordinary people dealing with tragedy and anger inside a world of fear and danger. Far from being mere victims, their small protests seriously unsettled the Nazi hierarchy and the closing scenes are a tribute to the power of their “small grains of sand”.Hide
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The Press Reviews
Handsomely packaged, the film unfortunately is also too well-behaved and lacking in psychological depth to really set itself apart from countless other WWII dramas theatrically... Full Review
The original story remains fascinating, but it feels like it’s been planed down, and smoothed away, into something more obviously digestible. Full Review
Finally cushions its harshest emotional blows, though Brendan Gleeson's deeply sad, stoic dignity in the lead cuts through some of the padding. Full Review
There are just no peaks and troughs, which is remarkable given the tremendously heavy content of the film. Full Review
It's that juxtaposition - of the hellish against the ordinary - which gives the film its punch. Full Review
A well-acted but creaky and curiously bloodless portrait of life during wartime from the Swiss-born actor turned director Vincent Pérez. Full Review
"Alone in Berlin" proceeds like a train crossing a plain. Without twists or turns, hills or valleys, its dramatic engine chugs reliably forward, delivering its cargo of World War II tragedy with bland efficiency. Full Review
Fails to leave a lasting impression. Full Review
A pity Perez's understated approach doesn't do their story justice. Full Review
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