A lot less heavy than I expected

Rating: 10/10 (29 January 2007)

I went into this knowing of its great reputation, but fearing it would be very slow and boring with a lot of dialogue and a heavy 'moral message'. Although it did have an underlying message (and a very strong and well made one too), the film wasn't at all what I expected; the camera work and music in particular livened it up, and at times it was quite light hearted. I think this helped make the emotional scenes all the more powerful. It kept me gripped all the way, and I don't have a long attention span. The acting throughout is superb, with very little of the overacting that you might expect from this period, with Welles in particular giving an outstanding performance in the lead role. My advice is give it a try, even if you think it's not your type of film.