Great, but the story deserved better direction.

Rating: 8/10 (7 October 2008)

I've got to say that I saw this tonight and I loved it. It's a very powerful, very well made film but it had a good Director and deserved a great one.
I'd have dearly loved to have seen it filmed in German and subtitled, but accepting that that won't happen, I applaud the decision to go for almost perfect received pronunciation rather than German accented English which would have been beyond awful.
For me, the bugbear was the music. Herman directed both Little Voice and Brassed Off - the man KNOWS how to use music effectively (Danny Boy in the latter film still makes be cry like a baby). The climax to this film however felt ham-fisted. The orchestration completely drowned the moment where I feel a much more restrained hand would have had greater emotional impact. Much of the rest of the score was fabulous.
In the acting stakes, I think the ladies won the day, with both Amber Beattie and Vera Farmiga giving performances that were a joy to watch.
A great film, but it could have been better.