Truly, filmmaking at its best!

Rating: 10/10 (11 September 2010)

I'm a middle-aged man and not really into dramas, let alone 2+ hour dramas, let alone black-and-white subtitled dramas, but WOW! Somehow this movie drew me in. The acting is absolutely superb, even the kids'. I admit I feel embarrassed as an American, looking at what Hollywood puts out as "dramas," and then looking at this. There is no comparison -- this movie really shows the power of film. This isn't two hours of entertainment and then you go home, it's two hours that makes you think for another couple days.
I think the best part is everything really rings true. If you've raised kids in a small town (especially a Protestant town, or German-immigrant mid-western U.S.), and you know how your grandparents and great-grandparents lived, you can really understand how everything in this movie could actually happen.
When you also consider the supposed "evil" kids in this movie would be "of age" in 30's and 40's Germany, it does help to explain things a bit more, which may be the director's intent.
Powerful story, however you interpret it!