"Das Programm" or "The Program" is a German television movie from 2 weeks ago roughly. It runs for 180 minutes and you can split it in two halves of 1.5 hours each. It is basically about a family that is forced into witness prosecution after the father gets involved with a bunch of dangerous crooks, who plan to kill him. That changes everything for the bunch. In my opinion, this was a very tense watch from start to finish and making a 3-hour film that almost never drags, is a good achievement. Thumbs up for the people who wrote and directed this one. The acting is pretty solid as well by everybody involved. Kunzendorf, Sadler, Höfels and Kalenbach are maybe somewhat known to German audiences and Heiner Lauterbach has a small role as well, very early in the film.
This watch was definitely a positive surprise. I have to admit that it never reached true greatness, but it was very enjoyable from start to finish. It was probably a plot twist too many here and there, like the (alleged) killing of the dad in the end or the true identity of one of the people working for the witness protection agency, but this should not come as too much of a surprise. Sometimes German films go over the top instead of sticking to a compellingly realistic story. Of course, it's also not too easy to achieve the latter. Then again, many filmmakers have done considerably worse in terms of (lack of) realism, so you cannot really complain with this one here.
All in all, I recommend the watch. It covers several areas, such as drama, crime, romance for example. And with most of these it does a pretty good job for (I know I am repeating myself) 180 minutes. It's probably not too easy to get a hand on this movie if you live outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but if you do, give it a chance. I give this one a thumbs up. With all the garbage on German television, this was definitely a positively refreshing watch.
This watch was definitely a positive surprise. I have to admit that it never reached true greatness, but it was very enjoyable from start to finish. It was probably a plot twist too many here and there, like the (alleged) killing of the dad in the end or the true identity of one of the people working for the witness protection agency, but this should not come as too much of a surprise. Sometimes German films go over the top instead of sticking to a compellingly realistic story. Of course, it's also not too easy to achieve the latter. Then again, many filmmakers have done considerably worse in terms of (lack of) realism, so you cannot really complain with this one here.
All in all, I recommend the watch. It covers several areas, such as drama, crime, romance for example. And with most of these it does a pretty good job for (I know I am repeating myself) 180 minutes. It's probably not too easy to get a hand on this movie if you live outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but if you do, give it a chance. I give this one a thumbs up. With all the garbage on German television, this was definitely a positively refreshing watch.
