Alone in Berlin 2016

     This film is based on the novel Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada.  The setting of this film is Berlin, Germany of 1940 during WWII.  Otto and Anna Quangel are devastated to receive a letter from German authorities that their only child Hans has been killed during the French campaign.  Anna is so distraught that she rips up the letter because of her intense grief.  Otto decides he must do something to alert the German people about what is really going on in Germany.  Hitler and other German officials are telling lies to the people and many are suffering abuse.  Otto buys small postcards and he writes the truth on the back in German.  He leaves the cards in public places for the people living in Berlin to read.  Otto doesn’t want Anna to become involved but she wants to leave the cards too.  Otto is afraid of what may happen to Anna if either one of them is caught.  Years pass and police detective Escherich is placing a flag at each location where a card is found.  He believes all the cards will be turned in.  Escherich is being pressured by an impatient SS superior to immediately arrest the person leaving the cards and charge them with for treason.

     I thought this film was very good.  Otto has a job as a machinist in a shop and Anna is a housewife.  They probably asked themselves, what can we do now that we’ve lost our son?  Is there a way to keep one other person from losing a friend or relative in this war?  Otto and Anna are risking torture and their lives with their project.  The ending is unexpected.  I was surprised by the low reviews??  4* (I loved this movie)  

103 min, Drama directed by Vincent Perez with Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson, Daniel Bruhl, Mikael Persbrandt, Louis Hofmann, Katarina Schuttler, Godehard Giese, Jacob Matschenz, Lars Rudolph, Uwe Preuss.

Note:  Imdb 6.4 out of 10, 59% critic 48% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 97 reviews, Metacritic 52 out of 100 with 16 critics 6.8 out of 10 with 6 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Saxony, Brandenburg, Germany.  Director Vincent Perez’s family lived through WWII.  Fascists in Spain shot his grandfather.  The Nazis murdered his great uncle in a gas chamber.  Another uncle died fighting on the Russian front lines.  Author Hans Fallada based his novel on actual Gestapo files that he was allowed to read.