turners-1 Reviews

Polisse (2011)

An insult to genuine police and social workers

[1/10 · 14 March 2013]

This film is the biggest heap of rubbish I have seen in years - nothing but a vanity project for the director. If people are left thinking that this is how a CPU would behave in any western European country then the director should hang her head in shame. Firstly the plot is a mess -events happen without any seeming rhyme of reason, all in the midst of a lot of shouting and flouncing by the CPU staff, none of which is in the least bit believable (at the start of the film a banner flashes up that 'these cases are based on real cases'). The overacting is appalling. The scene in the shopping mall is a joke, people standing round talking into walkie-talkies when they are supposed to be keeping a low profile in order to arrest a group of jewel smugglers. Secondly it is impossible to care about any of the characters, or what happens to them, with the possible exception of Ballou. All the while we get loving shots of the director (a very comely wench it must be admitted) looking gorgeous and simpering.

I watched the film with a social worker who couldn't stop laughing at how ludicrous the whole film was, and I could not but help agree. As for the ending.....

There is a major film to be made about the work of CPUs, but this definitely isn't it.

Barbara (I) (2012)

Could have been so much more

[5/10 · 20 November 2012]

This film was shown last night at the Bath Film Festival, and was a sell out. Personally, it was a huge disappointment. Let me begin by saying that my wife spent the first 12 years of her life in a communist state, leaving Hungary in 1964: I would add that we spent many long holidays in Hungary before 1989, which on more than one occasion involved making use of the Hungarian health service. So I would start my review by saying that in the details of the East German health service, and of life behind the Iron Curtain generally, the film has it spot on - the lack of drugs, poor hygiene, buildings (homes and hospital) falling to bits, rubbish cars (a senior doctor has a Wartburg, one of East Germany's better cars, but definitely NOT a BMW), warnings to order coal in the spring if you want it in the Autumn etc. They also have it right about who you could trust or not - after my F-i-L left Hungary in 1956, he found out that a 'friend' had been spying on him), and the ever-presence of the 'security' services. My problem with the film is the laziness of the script. Nina Hoss is pitch perfect in her role, and her character doesn't really do anything wrong: it is the others which are at fault. To a certain extent the film is about her choosing between 2 men, but one (the one she hopes to join in the West) is shown to be a callous jerk, who seems to want her purely for sex, indeed almost to be paying her for it: the other is a) very good looking and b) drawn in ludicrously sympathetic light, almost as some kind of communist Dr Kildare. I also don't like films where the outcome is decided by an enormous coincidence: as someone has pointed out above, how does Stella know where Barbara lives, and secondly how very convenient that she turns up on the night that Barbara's escape to the West is supposed to take place. I am not the smartest cookie in the jar, but I had spotted that coming from halfway through the film. An opportunity missed, I am afraid.

Europa Europa (1990)

What a missed opportunity

[2/10 · 25 October 2012]

I belong to a small film group (12-20 of us) who watched this film last night. I think it is fair to say that most are 40+, liberal with a small 'l', and well educated. The general consensus was that the film was a missed opportunity to tell a fascinating story - Solomon Perel's life is a very interesting one, but ludicrous events have been added to the script which, at times, made the film laughable. To add to the problems of the script, the acting is wooden at best, Marco Hofschneider seems incapable of expressing emotion, and with one or two exceptions the rest of the cast are as bad. One of the group watching is a youngish German girl, who informed us that none of the actors involved in the film are in the first rank of German cinema, which with hindsight seems obvious. To me, the film appeared to have been made on the cheap, with too many short cuts and mistakes: for example, he fires a machine gun at a barn and it bursts into flames - that simply would not happen. And the events added - his brother saving his life at the end for example - are not just not credible, but are so obviously added to the script for effect that they invalidate the real incidents in the film. As for the Nazis, none appears menacing, indeed many appear to be buffoons (which doubtless many were, but not in a jokey way). The comparison with Sophie Scholl - the Final Days is not favourable to this film: that is a film where the fear felt by the protagonists is palpable: this almost seems to have been played for laughs.

The Hide (2008)

Spot on

[8/10 · 17 November 2009]

Sorry to disagree with Mr Hitchcock, but this film gets twitchers spot on: like him I am a birdwatcher, and I have lost count of the number of them who, like Roy Tunt, claim 'I am not a twitcher: I am an ornithologist'. Just spend a day in a hide on the Somerset levels and you will see what I mean. Of course there are inaccuracies in the film - for example, no serious birdwatcher would go to the location where the film is set without a telescope, but that is beside the point: the film is about an obsessional man, and birdwatchers are a pretty obsessional bunch. Several years ago I was in a hide on the levels on a very cold Boxing Day afternoon: an elderly couple came in and during the course of a lively conversation informed us that a well known local birder had spent the whole of the previous day in the hide - despite have two children under the age of five. One can imagine Mr Tunt doing the same. To get back to the film, after the showing at the Bath Film Festival one of the producers did a Q&A, much of which revolved around why it can't get distribution: incredible really, especially when compared to a film like Cold Souls, also at the festival, which has a negligible plot. The film was apparently shot in 11 days, 5 days on location, 6 at Pinetree: the hide was bought for £100 from a Lincolnshire farmer, who couldn't believe his luck ! If anyone is wondering why the actor who plays David hasn't done any work for a few years, tragically his brother was murdered 4 years ago. No-one will be surprised to hear that a huge amount of effort went into the lighting, which perfectly captures the progress of a dank day from dawn to dusk. See it if you can, this is a gem.