Usually when you hear there is a new World War movie coming out, you can be fairly certain that the second one is in the center of the film. Faith Akin's newest film, however takes place roughly 100 years ago during World War II. The political climate is merely the setting. We do not really see battle scenes where the film takes place, namely in Turkey. Tahar Rahim plays a Georgian living there and we get to witness his fight for survival and finally the search for his two daughters. As the cut mentioned in the film's title refers to his vocal chords, he is silent for pretty much the whole movie apart from the very beginning. Good performance by Rahim.
As a whole, I have to say I was not as emotionally involved as I would have liked. However, if you can't deal with violence in movies, you really should not watch this one as it is packed with it from start to finish: lots of dying scenes, several (attempted) rape scenes, mass executions, genocide, assisted suicide and abductions. Most of it is pretty graphic as well. The first half is basically all about Rahim's characters fight for survival and the (good and bad) people he meets during his struggles, while the second half could almost be described as a road movie. We get to see Turkey, Cuba, several locations in the United States and more. The crane scene mentioned in the title of my review is a metaphor I enjoyed a lot as it applies not only to the central character, but also to his two daughters.
The ending was rough and uplifting at the same time. There were a couple other situations where it could have ended, like when he gets beaten up by his coworkers and they ask if he is dead, but then again it obviously would have been a totally negative ending, which I don't mind, however. Sometimes that's how it goes. Surviving the genocide and getting beaten to death by a couple racist rednecks. Then again, the real ending was not entirely positive either, so I can live with that. Just not a fan of forced happy endings.
The cast is really not famous at all. The only two people I knew apart from Rahim were Moritz Bleibtreu (who worked a lot with Akin in the past) in a one-scene performance and Trine Dyrholm in a slightly bigger role. I cannot say I have been wowed by this movie, but still I'd recommend watching it. The topic is very specific and you'll have a hard time finding another movie about it I guess. I found it pretty interesting to watch for the central character's fate, but also for all the political backgrounds and to see what life was like 100 years earlier.
As a whole, I have to say I was not as emotionally involved as I would have liked. However, if you can't deal with violence in movies, you really should not watch this one as it is packed with it from start to finish: lots of dying scenes, several (attempted) rape scenes, mass executions, genocide, assisted suicide and abductions. Most of it is pretty graphic as well. The first half is basically all about Rahim's characters fight for survival and the (good and bad) people he meets during his struggles, while the second half could almost be described as a road movie. We get to see Turkey, Cuba, several locations in the United States and more. The crane scene mentioned in the title of my review is a metaphor I enjoyed a lot as it applies not only to the central character, but also to his two daughters.
The ending was rough and uplifting at the same time. There were a couple other situations where it could have ended, like when he gets beaten up by his coworkers and they ask if he is dead, but then again it obviously would have been a totally negative ending, which I don't mind, however. Sometimes that's how it goes. Surviving the genocide and getting beaten to death by a couple racist rednecks. Then again, the real ending was not entirely positive either, so I can live with that. Just not a fan of forced happy endings.
The cast is really not famous at all. The only two people I knew apart from Rahim were Moritz Bleibtreu (who worked a lot with Akin in the past) in a one-scene performance and Trine Dyrholm in a slightly bigger role. I cannot say I have been wowed by this movie, but still I'd recommend watching it. The topic is very specific and you'll have a hard time finding another movie about it I guess. I found it pretty interesting to watch for the central character's fate, but also for all the political backgrounds and to see what life was like 100 years earlier.