Don't see this film if you want a deep insight into war crimes or if you wanna see a great mystery. You can pretty much guess what is to come after the first 10 minutes.
Just to repeat the plot for no reason: Jessica Lange plays a Hungarian-American who happens to be a lawyer, which comes in handy, when her father, a seemingly benign, good man, is accused of war atrocities.
The crimes he is accused of, are absolutely disgusting. Luckily, they are never shown on-screen but are only described by witnesses in his trial.
Costa Gavras, the director, tries very hard to keep the audience guessing what is to come, but I am afraid that the resolution just isn't that exciting. There is one crucial moment at the end of the trial, when the prosecuting attorney calls a surprise witness, that feels like a giant cheat on the audience. I won't reveal it. Watch it yourself and make up your own mind.
The best thing about this is Lange's performance. This is probably a part which most actors would kill for and Lange plays it without a false note. It would probably be easy to play it overly dramatic, but I think that Lange does it with super restraint and subtlety.
Not that this a bad film but just very unsatisfying. It's kind of like Gavras' earlier exploration of a similar theme in Betrayed (a movie I thought was dismal). This is a little better but I felt that I learned nothing about the evil of those who committed these crimes and that I wasn't really engrossed in the outcome.
Just to repeat the plot for no reason: Jessica Lange plays a Hungarian-American who happens to be a lawyer, which comes in handy, when her father, a seemingly benign, good man, is accused of war atrocities.
The crimes he is accused of, are absolutely disgusting. Luckily, they are never shown on-screen but are only described by witnesses in his trial.
Costa Gavras, the director, tries very hard to keep the audience guessing what is to come, but I am afraid that the resolution just isn't that exciting. There is one crucial moment at the end of the trial, when the prosecuting attorney calls a surprise witness, that feels like a giant cheat on the audience. I won't reveal it. Watch it yourself and make up your own mind.
The best thing about this is Lange's performance. This is probably a part which most actors would kill for and Lange plays it without a false note. It would probably be easy to play it overly dramatic, but I think that Lange does it with super restraint and subtlety.
Not that this a bad film but just very unsatisfying. It's kind of like Gavras' earlier exploration of a similar theme in Betrayed (a movie I thought was dismal). This is a little better but I felt that I learned nothing about the evil of those who committed these crimes and that I wasn't really engrossed in the outcome.