Alone in Berlin

28 May 2018

Alone in Berlin

• Director: Vincent Perez
• Based on the novel by Hans Fallada
• Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, Mikael Persbrandt
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Brendan Gleeson – Edge of Tomorrow, In Bruges, Harry Potter, Kingdom of Heaven, Cold Mountain, Gangs of New York, 28 Days Later, My Life So Far, Butcher Boy, Michael Collins, Braveheart
• Emma Thompson – The Love Punch, Beautiful Creatures, Brave, The Boat that Rocked, Harry Potter, Nanny McPhee, An Education, Last Chance Harvey, Brideshead Revisited, Stranger than Fiction, Angels in America, Love Actually, Wit, The Winter Guest, Sense and Sensibility, The Remains of the Day, Much Ado about Nothing, Peter’s Friends, Howards End, Impromptu, Dead Again, Henry V, Fortune’s War, Tutti Frutti
• Daniel Brühl – Woman in Gold, Inglourios Basterds, Ladies in Lavender, Good-bye Lenin
• Mikal Persbrandt – The Hobbit, Radioskuggan, Svensson Svensson
• Why? Emma Thompson
• Seen: 26 May 2018      

       Germany during the war. France has just been defeated. Otto (Gleeson) and Anna (Thompson) are informed that their only son has been killed in battle. They grieve but life as subjects of the Führer goes on.

       They start distributing cards with texts like ‘The Führer murdered our son, he will murder yours’ and ‘There is no peace in Hitler’s fiendish war machine’ and ‘Hitler and Nazism mean violence’.

       The cards are turned into the police and Inspector Escherich (Brühl) starts looking for the culprit, which he gives the name Hobgoblin. Clues are collected as hundreds of cards are turned into the police. Sadistic SS officer Prall (Persbrandt) beats him bloody and orders him to find the Hobgoblin.

       It’s slow moving but suspenseful in its grimness. It’s a simple story of a simple form of resistance. It probably didn’t make any difference, but it was bravely done.

       Based on a true story.

4 * of 5