A lot of potential, sadly it falls short

Rating: 5/10 (22 February 2014)

This movie was for me a major disappointment. The whole story of a German boy who is son of an SS commander, befriending a Jewish child in a concentration camp is great and would have potential to make a heart -and gut wrenching film akin to Schindler's List. Sadly I find the execution of the story to be sorely lacking. Firstly I would have preferred that the Germans spoke German, however I can, to some extent accept this as there has been good WW2 movies where the Germans spoke English. What really breaks it for me in this film, and what keeps me from being engaged in the story is the lack of character development, the lacking sense of fear in the concentration camps and the overall indifference to what happens to the characters. The only thing that makes this film watchable is the good performances of David Thewlis and Vera Farmiga. In the end I was left with a bitter taste in the mouth of how a great plot was so purely executed and I can't help but wonder of what could have been.