Monaco: sull'orlo della guerra

I read Robert Harris's novel, about the 1938 Munich Agreement, and I loved it. Harris is a very good writer and I love historical fiction. Of course, I was well aware that Harris was trying to alter and improve Chamberlain's image and place in history, with which I vehemently disagreed. Chamberlain's egotism and stubbornness blinded him to the fact that you cannot appease or negotiate with a madman, as Churchill intuitively and correctly realized.

I read the book a second time and thought it would make an excellent film. Of course, I thought, the film makers should not make Chamberlin the hero of the piece in any way, shape or form. I even cast Jeremy Irons, as Chamberlain, in my head.

Irons is, of course, excellent, as are the two young leads played by George MacKay and Jannis Niewöhner. Niewöhner is especially one to watch. The film has enhanced the roll of Helen Winter (Sandra Hüller) I suppose for woke purposes of having a women in a central supporting role. I thought Hitler was miscast. Again, when I cast the film in my minds eye, after reading the book, I thought Steve Buscemi would make a great Hitler.

I said to myself, when I read the book, that the scene they must cut, if the make a film, is the midnight drive to see the old girlfriend. My instincts were 100% correct as it kills all the tension that has been building. They could have trimmed the running time and improved the film.

The film, as does the book, completely downplays the very inconvenient declaration, by Chamberlain at the airport, of "peace in our time." The film also posits, as does the book, that Chamberlain bought time to properly prepare for war when it did come and this contributed to the German defeat. This is an absolute lie. When Churchill took over, as PM, the army was woefully underprepared and under equipped. In fact, had the Allied Forces acted forcefully in 1938, Hitler might have been stopped by an internal coup from the German Army.

"An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." -Winston Churchill.

Movie has many ups Acting, Location, Direction, Writing all up to the mark and George and Jannis's acting stole the show. Although i didn't like casting of Fuhrer it felt like they wanted to make a mockery of Hitler and i would say they succeeded in it. Apart from that movie is very good.

Seems there are many "studio inspired" positive reviews here. This is certainly no 10! First, the film should have carried a "historical fiction" disclaimer as most of the events depicted never happened. Second, the Munich agreement didn't "buy time," in fact after Poland was invaded and Britain declared war on Germany, there was no war. The peaceful interlude, called the "phony war," bought time to prepare for war, not Munich. I suppose this propaganda was made to rehabilitate Chamberlain's image. Meh.

For a truly historical account of these events watch Darkest Hour (2017).

Munich: The Edge of War is an entertaining movie to watch. Just don't get mislead by the title though. It's not really a war movie, more of a drama. You won't see any shooting or killing, just political conversations about going to war or not. Sounds boring but it isn't. It's an interesting story based on a novel, certainly not accurate to what really happened, something we will never really know. The cast was excellent, good acting from all of them. Nice cinematography as well, it's all quality. Just don't expect action because there isn't any.

I realise that historical events can only be reflected to a limited extent in feature films, especially when real people are brought to life by actors 80 years later. The question then is, do I play this person as he was or do I create my own character? In the case of "Munich", however, I didn't care, because I was enthusiastic about the ensemble performance as a whole, more than about the script, but that's why I give it this rather high rating. Jannis Niewöhner and George MacKay as friends on different sides grabbed me right at the beginning because they are very different actors and I have to admit that I have been a fan of Niewöhner for a long time. Ulrich Matthes Hitler scared even me. I know Matthes from the stage and like him a lot, his portrayal here gives you an idea why so many Germans were fascinated by him. Jeremy Irons may have played Chamberlain too positively, but that doesn't detract from his performance. And yes - while watching I was also preoccupied with the current Ukraine war and the parallels to Hitler's war preparations, which are very clear. Let's hope that it will turn out better this time...