The Interpreter of Silence (2023) User Reviews

It makes clear that the pain and suffering did not end in 1945...

[Erik_Surewaard · 8/10 · 18 November 2023]

Also known as "The Interpreter of Silence", this 5-part mini-series is a based on a 2019 novel. A combination of both fiction and real events - the "Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials" that took pace during 1963 to 1965 - the series gives an idea on how difficult it was to prosecute the crimes that were committed in Auschwitz during WW2.

Apart from the Nuremberg Trials, which took place during 1946-1947, the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials took place almost 20 years after the war. The series gives a very convincing view on how life during the 60's must have been. A combination of stunning sets with many props of those times, makes it a very attractive view.

Amongst the defendants of the Auschwitz Trials, a special focus is put on the SS-officer Wilhelm Boger, whom under the name "The Tiger of Auschwitz" was known for using extreme torture techniques on prisoners, often leading them to die instantly or within a day of the torture. That Wilhelm Boger left many people dead, also makes it difficult to prosecute. This since there were no witnesses left...

Another defendant whom is featured, is Robert Mulka, whom functioned as chief of staff under the famous Auschwitz camp commander Rudolf Hoss. This made him defacto second-in-command at Auschwitz.

Mixed with these true events is a story about the court translator. As a daughter of an owner of a Frankfurt restaurant named "Deutsches Haus", she is specialized in translating the polish language. The series shows her day-to-day life during the trial, which leads her to discover also interesting facts about her own family, friends and co-workers.

The convincing sets combined with excellent acting, makes this series a very attractive view which I myself binge-watched in one go. An extra plus is that this series educates the viewer on real events that relate to WW2. I personally think it is important that society is made aware of how evil "civilized" people can really be. And since we have come to the point that all eye-witnesses to WW2 are dead, a series like this is important in keeping alive what really happened just a generation ago.

Concluding, I award this series a score of 8.1/10 resulting in an IMDb score of 8 stars.

Captures post war Germany well

[jeffkresse-814-345969 · 8/10 · 16 November 2023]

18 years beyond the fall of the Third Reich finds us in a Frankfurt courtroom where several Nazi soldiers and officers stand trial for atrocities at Auschwitz. They face a variety of former prison camp survivors whose testimony is translated from Polish by young German-born Eva Bruhns. Their descriptions of the hellscape that was the Auschwitz experience has profound effects on Eva, arousing profound introspection and eventually leading her to find out her parents worked at Auschwitz. She discovers a world around her where older Germans eschew her for her participation in the trial, a very typical reality after the war as many refused to acknowledge war crimes choosing rather to forget. For Eva, she becomes one of the new post war generation that begins to seek comfort and forgiveness for the profound horror experienced by the persecuted.

I was a little baffled why this is in German language only with English subs because it was a Disney project. German is world famous for its language dubbing capabilities so i don't see why they would limit their audience.

Forced to watch English dub

[blueskystyling · 8/10 · 21 December 2023]

This series is made very well but it suffers because the US release on Hulu only has the English dubbed version as an option. Because of this, we cannot experience the original performances!

And to add to this corruption, the English closed caption does not at all match the English dub dialogue. Add the fact that there are many languages spoken in the series, some of them being interpreted by characters into OTHER languages... well it just makes it so the original dialogue, acting, mistakes in translations that the characters make that is part of the plot line AND the removal of all of the original sound editing is gone! If I were the creators of this series, I would be outraged! As it stands, I don't think I will be able to tolerate such adulteration and will have to give up watching it.

Very impressive

[kartimoz · 9/10 · 16 November 2023]

I definitely recommend this show because of different reasons.

The show is an impressive piece of cinema (although it is a mini series).

Character development is done with a lot of empathy and patience. Actors adding an authentic play to this really emotional story.

Sometimes it is not what they say - more how they say it (or not)

Technically it is brilliant as well. Every shot has its purpose and the light is always a support to the scene. Sounds and even silence are well done and also with a purpose.

Although the history is well known and a lot of movies were made - this one contributes in a unique way.

Really great show with perfect acting

[avi-pars · 10/10 · 16 December 2023]

The show is based on a book called "The German House", I stumbled upon the show in Disney+ and had to watch all 5 episodes. The show is a heavy watch but definitely worth it.

While the show and the book are both historical fictions, I felt like it portrayed the German and Polish sentiment after WW2 accurately and vividly.

The cast and acting were great and the dubbing into english was better than usual, but I advise adding english subtitles as well. In many cases when Polish is being spoken, it isn't dubbed to english and I relied on the closed captions.

Overall, I think the show was great and I plan on reading the book shortly.

Good concept, poor writing and direction and editing.

[hortschdan · 5/10 · 11 January 2024]

The concept - based on a novel - is fine. A young woman who works as a translator of Polish to English at a WWII war crimes trial in the 1960s in Frankfurt, is surprisingly unaware of the brutality and murders at Auschwitz. In hearing testimony, she comes to know of the horrors of the camp.

She also learns that her parents lived next to the camp when her father was a cook in the officers mess. She had fleeting memories of those times, but doesn't realize where they lived at the time.

Mixed into this basic plot are subplots having to do with a fiancee and his family; her older sister, a nurse with mental-emotional needs; a confused, young assistant prosecutor; and an incident during the camp days involving her parents and a defendant. Some of this material might work in a novel, but needs to be removed from s film or television series.

Some of the scenes are simply pointless or poorly executed. Some would-be artsy shots are silly.

Again, the concept of young Germans to their horror learning the truth about Auschwitz and her family's connected history is good. Telling the story in a series requires focus and discipline.

Why only dubbed version?

[irazig · 1/10 · 30 December 2023]

I really wanted to watch this series. Why doesn't Hulu offer it dubbed & in German. I will not watch a dubbed movie, it destroys the performances.

I would imagine this says much about Hulu's concept of their average users. Besides the fact that streaming brings us back to TV before cable. You are forced to sit through constant advertising, with no option to face forward. We need DVR service on our streaming services. The consumer continues to be subject to the whims of the streaming services.

So I cannot review this film because of the dubbing!

Would it be so difficult to offer both versions? We are paying for these services!

Good film, intense, well acted, courageous

[dskrmyg · 4/10 · 30 December 2023]

This is a good series with very fine cast. The focus on the main character's increasing awareness is perfect. The episodes falter when unnecessary digressions dealing with the young Jewish lawyer, his angst, prostitution, outbursts. The courtroom scenes are great and even minor roles are realized quite brilliantly. I recommend this series highly, but one must be patient enough to get thru the unnecessary digressions in order to get the magic. These people tackled a difficult subject. The music score stimulates a feeling of reality hidden inside the insanity. There are surprises that enliven the drama just when you think you've seen it all. Characters, for once, have contrasting sides to their being so one never knows what will be revealed and 'that' is one of the strengthens of this drama.

This had potential

[auldhouse · 2/10 · 22 March 2024]

This had potential and then turned into a hot mess.

I was very disappointed to have hung in until the very end.

The story starts strong- decades after WW2, a young woman takes a job as a Polish interpreter for German trials of guards and officials for Auschwitz. She is a light froth of a girl with a handsome fiancé and as she asserts her independence, she is also confronted with the past actions of her fellow Germans, including her own family.

It is the side characters that eventually bring much of the narrative down and the choice to reveal their secrets almost all at once in the last two episodes.

There are far better shows that depict WW2 and its aftermath. There are far better shows that depict the Holocaust and the horrors of Auschwitz.

Mostly well-intentioned but too much unecessary fluff

[rock-me1 · 4/10 · 25 November 2023]

The Frankfurt Ausschwitz trials are an important topic in Holocaust history and the series potrayal of the trial is where the series shines.

Unfortunately it suffers from the same problem that much of German "history-TV" (like Babylon Berlin or Charité) has: to draw in viewers it contains numerous side plots that are supposed to fluff out the historical period but are very clichéd. I get that it is important to set a historical context, but the side plots remain completely shallow and especially clash with the horrifying descriptions of Ausschwitz in the trial.

A further (minor) point: it feels very much that the series only included an anti-Nazi old person in the form of the fiancé's father to reassure German viewers that "not everyone was bad" in their grandparent's generation. It's a shame that German productions still feel they cannot ask more of their audience.

Pretends to be much is actually very little

[Kampfie · 3/10 · 24 November 2023]

The show seems to be cut short and only develops in the last two episodes. Some story arcs aren't finished or finished off screen.

Where did David actually go? An American disappearing in Cold War Poland of the 1960's is brushed off by a simple sentence?

Why did the Annegret marry the Doctor after poisonimg those babies?

Some of the characters seems to be awfully misrepresented. Wilhelm Boger is presented as a caring and friendly father totally opposite to his behaviour in the actual case.

For a show detailing the atrocities of Auschwitz only one of five episodes actually drives home the point and gives a sense of the murder that happened there. The rest is a just fluff, showing life in the 50ies trying to awake a sense of nostalgia in the viewer.

Finishing the show didn't leave a strong impact on me.

A show about this case could have been- no, should have been part of modern Erinnerungskultur (Culture of Remembrance) yet it fail to deliver that.

But if it's not for that why make this show?

Good but it needs some severe editing

[cytranowka · 5/10 · 26 November 2023]

From the moment you hear Cilla Black singing it goes all downhill, only to pick up again at episode 5. A lot of time is wasted on inexplicable subplots, like Edith's Munchausen syndrome by proxy. While at the end, we do not know what Eva does next. Does she become radicalised or even join the Baader Meinhof?

Some of the story is also downright unbelievable, like Jurgen Schoormann being physically capable of ejaculating into his pants after kicking a wounded RAF pilot to death. The trial began in 1963, the war ended in 1945 and he looks as though he is in his early 20s. I had read elsewhere that Schoormann, the father, was based on the real life mail order king and Nazi Josef Neckermann. While here he was a member of the communist resistance who post war becomes a multi millionaire capitalist.

Nevertheless there is some great casting, the actor who plays Mulka looks like the SS man you would expect him to be.

It would be interesting to know why the camp scenes were not shot at Auschwitz itself? Was it down to budget or did the Polish authorities not consider this series to serious enough? The Frankfurt Auschwitz trials themselves are treated with more gravity in the film "The People vs. Fritz Bauer".