Trite and tedious

Rating: 3/10 (4 March 2014)

This is an "Oh my goodness!" film. With each change of scene you think to yourself "Oh my goodness, has it not ended yet!" And what makes it worse is that from some allusions in the script and some flashbacks towards the end, it's pretty clear there's probably another hour's worth of footage that could have been included. Why Max leaves home hale and hearty (the first time we see him in the film) then arrives at Lisl's house a wreck (the next time we see him) is entirely up to the viewer to imagine. Many incidents are unrealistic: people secretly sheltering a jew during World War II just would not behave in many of the ways we're shown in the movie: they'd keep the lowest conceivable profile. When people are killed by bombs landing on houses they don't emerge nicely dressed but dusty and without a mark on them. The way the cast speak, in English with pseudo-German accents, might be acceptable, but throwing in occasional German words ("ja", "nein", "und") is just plain dumb. With its score that turns on swelling strings every time something heart rending happens and an unnecessary voice-over that inanely purports to come from some supernatural death or god figure, this film is clearly aimed at those with high appreciation of all things saccharine. The film is not moving, just tedious. The plot is neither convincing nor uplifting, just trite and often unrealistic.