Resistance

The romance of melancholy is the best way I can describe the tone.

This dreary film would of been fine if I was looking to feel contemplative on the idea of existence as a whole showing how meaningful it is through single life and the glorification of the mundane interaction that such a singular life must undertake. But I was not looking for that. I felt mislead by the description, it would be perfectly fine and enjoyable if this was what I wanted.

That being said the discussion of the humans condition being consistence (and repetitive) regardless of cultural differences is some what over done these days. It is a notion that needs to evolve in its functional use for story telling. Hopefully where it is not longer the core of a story but an assumed trait perhaps. This is only a personal preference though and I acknowledge that not everyone thinks it is an trope that has become unreasonably popular.

A really disappointing film. Adding 40/50 minutes of people staring in silence at someone or at something doesn't make a film poetic, gentle and sensitive, it's just a trick to water down the screenplay and save a lot of money for a low-budget film. The screenplay, by the way, is quite ordinary and unconvincing. In fact the action and the dialogues are so rare here, that almost all of them, the essential ones at least, are in the trailer. It's even funny to think that the film is practically the trailer plus silence and some beautiful views of the welsh mountains. This could be easily a 10-15 minutes short film without losing anything of the plot.

When I heard this was a movie about an alternate reality where Britain lost the Second World War and becomes under German control, I thought "GREAT!! Sounds like an fascinating exploration of people suffering under the occupation of an enemy force." The truth is somewhat different though... in fact, my initial reaction couldn't have been less accurate if I'd assumed David Cameron would be a Conservative Prime Minister.

The 'action' focuses on a lonely Welsh valley, after D-day has failed and all the men disappear overnight. A handful of Jerrys appear (The budgeters couldn't afford to hire any more, ya see) and take over the even smaller population (Man, those purse strings must've been tight), and one of them takes a fancy to a local girl who's husband has gone AWOL. His pathetic attempts at courtship takes up the lion's share of the length, while some dogs, a horse and a sheep die in tragic circumstances.

What's that? You wanted MORE? You expected large scale gun battles, the sight of people suffering during Nazi authority, real tension, and God forbid, some genuine wartime atmosphere? None of that here, matey. The Germans here seem like nice chappies, helping out around the farm and treating the residents with respect and curtesy. This might be alright for the fictional characters in the movie, but it kills all interest stone dead.

There are myriads of flashbacks, none of help move the plot forward at all and only serve to confuse the viewer with their irrelevance. I didn't care about any of these people, because the script gave me nothing TO care about. You'd be hard pushed to find anything that lasts for more than 80 minutes where less happens, and considering the Can't-Miss central premise, this is a crime. One day, they'll make a film about this very subject, on a much grander scale.

And, *fingers crossed* it'll be nothing like this. 3/10

A fairly interesting premise, and a story that might have been far more interesting if I didn't find myself having to switch on my superpower sense of hearing to make sense of the irritating mumbling between the characters.

Of course, no sooner had I upped the volume the music started playing - an eardrum-throbbing violin.

The net result was that I found myself spending more time playing with the volume buttons on the remote control than I did watching the film - a shame as it was on the whole pretty atmospheric.

I couldn't see the point of the Michael Sheen character, but the German Hauptmann was quietly convincing - if perhaps a little too quiet when he was not speaking German.

I bought the film, because I was curious about it. I like war films, and this sounded different from the others. And why some of the critics were good,and others put the film completely down? I knew Tom Wlaschiha from Game of Thrones and so many people had a very good opinion about is job. So I had to see it. And I am not disappointed. It's a film about emotions, relationship that shows the human side of people in such a devastating scenario that was the WWII. It makes us think. It makes us believe that people in certain circumstances, can join forces and work together. We don't need to see fights, people being killed, because that we had seen a lot. So, don't criticize so hard this film, because it deserves consideration. You can also read the book of Owen Sheers. Maybe some of the people will understand it better.It has o low budget. What's the problem? There are so many Hollywood films that don't deserve the money spent. I give my congratulations to the lead cast, because they are fabulous.