"Alone in Berlin" *** 1/2 (out of ****)
Vincent Perez’s “Alone in Berlin” (2016), is a World War II
themed drama centering on a working-class German couple (played by Emma
Thompson and Brendan Gleeson) that finds out their only child has died in
combat. Consumed with grief and anger they become part of the German
Resistance, placing anonymous postcards, with anti-Hitler, anti-Nazi
sentiments, throughout the city. In total, more than 280 postcards are written.
The film is based on the novel Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada published in 1947. It is
considered to be one of the first anti-Nazi novels to be published after the
war in Germany. It was made available in the United States, for the first time,
in 2009. Even more astonishing is the novel was based on a true story and the
actions of Otto and Elise Hampel.
The novel has been adapted to the screen previously on a
few occasions, once as a West German television movie in 1962 and again in 1970
as an East German television miniseries, among them.
Screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, where
it was nominated for a Golden Bear (the festival’s top prize), “Alone in
Berlin” begins as an emotional drama that slowly turns into a thriller with the
Gestapo enraged and furiously conducting an investigation, which provides a
nice role for Daniel Bruhl as Escherich, a police inspector, under pressure to
deliver results and find the perpetrator.
Audiences are asked to draw a parallel, as is usually the
case in these kind of movies, between the person being hunted and the hunter.
Can Otto (Gleeson) influence Escherich and persuade him, by reading his
postcards, to see what Hitler and the Nazi party really stand for?
What would have made “Alone in Berlin” a stronger movie
would have been if Otto was a true Nazi sympathizer. A man who believed in what
Hitler was doing and was proud of his son for fighting. Then, when he turns
against it, it would have more dramatic effect. As it stands now Otto and his
wife, Ann (Thompson), are like so many other people who see terrible things
happen in the world and are silent, if for no other reason than tragedy has not
struck them personally. It is only when it does that it opens their eyes.
It’s difficult however to find much else to fault with the
movie. It is one of the best films released this year, thanks largely to
Brendan Gleeson’s performance, as a solemn, calm and meticulous (trying to hide
his handwriting, he spends up to an hour writing the postcard) man, who while
driven by a purpose somehow seems apathetic about life and the consequences of
his actions. This is countered by Emma Thompson’s performance, which is
overwrought as she expresses her concern over the couple being caught and has
moments where she lashes out demonstrating her grief. All of which emphasizes
the separate ways the couple copes with their feelings, which will in turn
bring them together again.
In only his third feature length film, Perez (who has spent
most of his career as an actor), shows a sure hand as a director, avoiding much
of the schmaltz another director may have brought out of the story, his
weakness though is he needs to improve on creating suspense.
At its core “Alone in Berlin” is a story that tells us all
it takes is one person to stand up for what is right. One person can make a
difference and change the minds of many. It is a nice message for the world we
live in.
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