BEST HOLOCAUST MOVIE EVER!

Little is known worldwide about one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century, The Second Sino-Chinese war, that began in 1937 spanning all the way to 1945. During that war many fierce atrocities have been made by Japanese, amongst which the so called Nanking massacre ranks as one of the goriest.

Nanking was the capital of China and fell in to Japanese arms in 1937, resulting in thousands dead soldiers and civilians, as well as some 300.000 women raped. That’s right, 300 THOUSAND.

Young Chuan Lu directs his epic war drama masterpiece around those historical facts bringing us some of the creepiest, most brutal and heart stabbing individual stories behind the numbers of casualties. Camera is simply flawless, climaxing the massive scenes and wide angles as well as the effervescent focus exchange. Screenplay is the world for itself, bringing some of the most striking characters into the genre of war drama, a short but mighty Chinese soldier Lu (Buster Keaton like Ye Liu), unbelievably potent Sino-civilians Mr. Tang (Wei Fan) and Mrs. Jiang (Yuanyuan Gao), as well as the immortal male lead, Japanese soldier Kadokawa (Hideo Nakaizumi). Performances will be extraordinary, as well as the timeless lines overflowing from every major scene and twist in the story. The patriotism will be omnipresent, but so discreet and reduced to a symbolic level that you won’t even sense it. There will even be a place for some seed of hope. Tiny one, but undoubted.

Forget about „Schindler's list”, „Pianist” or even the „Son of Saul”.  Chinese „Nanjing! Nanjing!” (original title) is the ultimate war movie, war drama and holocaust drama!

„City of life and death” is one of those movies that you will be able to watch only once, but also one the flicks that you’ll remember for life. I’ll guarantee that.

CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH - 10/10

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UNBEARABLY FRIGHTENING

I thought that we didn't need another Holocaust movie. I thought that everything about the concentration camps was said in „Life is beautiful” and „Schindler's list”.

I was so wrong.

This year's Best foreign language movie, „Son of Saul”, is simply the best depiction of the massacre Nazis conducted on the Jews in Second world war up to this moment in cinema history.

It is also one of the most frightening movies ever made, being hyper realistic in its methodical and merciless pace and gradation as we climb down the circles of Auschwitz's hell. Laszlo Nemes's camera is as good as in „Revenant”, maybe even better in hiding the worst attrocities out of focus and clinging to the Saul Auslander's (incredible Geza Rohrig) desperate desire to retain the last piece of humanity and sanity when the world around him is collapsing to the brink of the apocalypse.

There will be no pause during two hour course of this Hungarian hyper-drama, no mercy and no light at the end of the tunnel. „Son of Saul” will break your heart, devour your soul and spit it out. And it should do so, because its task isn't to be liked or watched all over again. Its task is much more important, because it should educate, remind and warn us that these things didn't happen somewhere in the Third world or centuries ago. Holocaust happened to our grandparents, in the very heart of Europe and was conducted by the members of one of the most advanced nations of our civilization.

You must watch „Son of Saul”. I promise you, you will never forget it.

SON OF SAUL - 11/10

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REMEBER TO WATCH „REMEMBER”!

Films about the fate of Jews wore out during the course of time, not bringing anything new to the genre in past 25 years. As for the serious flicks on this subject, those dealing with the question of revenge against the Nazis were even more rarer, so it is quite expected for a average viewer to miss out a hidden gem, „Remember”.

The thing that attracts the most when it comes to the crew and script of Atom Egoyan's latest movie is the overall sense of unpretentiousness. Slow rhythm, additionally slowed down by phenomenal Christopher Plummer and his character's repetitive dementia will soon form a very original story about finding the notorious Auschwitz block fuhrer, Otto Valisch. This unusual adventure will make a full circle around four potential Nazis who settled down in USA, culminating with one of those memorable twists at the very end that make „Remember” the most original Jew/Nazi flick in decades.

„Remember” is a great small movie, with some serious acting and a memorable script and you should definitely watch it.

REMEMBER - 8/10

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CONSISTENT AND PAINFUL ALL THE WAY

Dramatic fate of the Jews in Second world war torn Europe was a frequent subject in modern cinema with some real directing and writing giants involved in its depicting. The sub-genre was drenched during the years and little or no viable flicks were made in this century.

„Phoenix” is a low B/C German drama about a woman (Nina Hoss) that managed to survive the war disfigured and now searches for her husband who sold her out to the Nazis. The betrayal continues to the very end, as well as women's tragedy. Overall rhythm is pretty slow, but the emotions run high all the way, as the entire precisely written script.

„Phoenix” is a great European drama with a big „D” that will twist your heart inside out.

PHOENIX - 8/10

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