Thought provoking film?

Rating: 7/10 (16 January 2010)

Yes it is. It is also a very decent film, and I can't see why it attracted so much criticism upon its release. Unfortunately films to do with the holocaust don't seem to go down well with our European neighbours, and I sense that it is something that they would rather forget.
Fortunately or unfortunately this is exactly the type of film which always seems to get all the armchair amateur arty philosophers discussing the meaning of life for hours. Guys, it is just a film, a good one but just a film nevertheless.
I thought the film was a little bit too long and the middle part could have been shortened slightly.
Up until seeing this film recently on DVD I had never been a massive fan of Kate Winslet, not from Titanic onwards, but in this film she was absolutely magnificent and her acting was of the very highest order. Ralph Fiennes was his usual very competent controlled self, but I found his character (Berg) to be infuriating and especially so in the scene when he meets Winslet in the prison canteen towards the end - still, it shows what a good actor he is.