It begins: 'Based on a true story' and that's exactly what it delivers. These were extraordinary times where simple unvarnished truth would have been an incredibly powerful way of telling this particular story. Unfortunately, creative license greatly diminishes rather than heightens what should have been storytelling at its finest. The ending, in particular, betrays the integrity of real events. The high-scoring ratings here seem similarly gratuitous. Is it better than Schindler's List (8.9 and seven Oscars)? Or Life is Beautiful (8.6 and 3 Oscars)? Or The Pianist (8.5 and 3 Oscars)? The acting's is good, as are the production values and it's a decent enough film. But truth, especially given the subject matter, is infinitely more powerful than fiction.
24 Reviews
B rated rather than A
bryangary6513 May 2022
first half good
SnoopyStyle13 February 2023
In the immediate aftermath of WWII, camp survivor Max (August Diehl) returns to find the man, who ratted out his family, has now stolen his home. He encounters a squad of the British army's Jewish brigade. They have been tracking down and executing former SS and other collaborators. They are transferred out by the British. Max remains behind to join a local Jewish squad with a darker plan.
I am going with this as Max and the group hunt down the SS. I am less convinced that he would do what he does after that. First, he would go kill the man who stole his house which led to the murder of his family. Without that, his character makes no sense. After killing the guy, he should finish off the list. I'm more than willing to believe that he would switch sides, but by that time, I don't buy his character. The story has no tension since the plan was never pulled off in the real history. I never expected them to succeed. The first half of this movie is pretty good, but the second half runs into various overall issues. In many ways, Michael would be the better lead character.
I am going with this as Max and the group hunt down the SS. I am less convinced that he would do what he does after that. First, he would go kill the man who stole his house which led to the murder of his family. Without that, his character makes no sense. After killing the guy, he should finish off the list. I'm more than willing to believe that he would switch sides, but by that time, I don't buy his character. The story has no tension since the plan was never pulled off in the real history. I never expected them to succeed. The first half of this movie is pretty good, but the second half runs into various overall issues. In many ways, Michael would be the better lead character.
What would you do?
smoochemail5 February 2022
We are watching this right now, it's strange, the first voice says a few words, he says what would you do? It's all for no reason. Isn't this happening worldwide right now? History repeating itself. Okay there's a reason but I don't agree with it: we use far too many resources that can lead to a very uncertain future for us all so we need to act before 2030.
Fascinating story, poorly told
cubmom0422 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The premise of the movie is fascinating, survivors of the Holocaust getting revenge on the people who looked the other way as they and their families were dragged from their homes and tortured and murdered. We are introduced to several characters, one is a Jewish man who returns to his home to find that it is occupied by a German family he knew before the war. The German man is less than welcoming and the Jewish man sets off to discover a new life.
Sadly the pacing of the story and explanation is too slow and aside from the character Anna, lacking conviction. This would have been better off as a documentary.
Sadly the pacing of the story and explanation is too slow and aside from the character Anna, lacking conviction. This would have been better off as a documentary.
Good history, badly dubbed breathing
Nozz26 April 2022
The circumstances and the issues as presented in this film are very accurate--- maybe too accurate for commercial success, because many viewers may be displeased at the depiction of the German population in the aftermath of WWII. As far as the postwar vigilante killings of Nazis and the course of "Plan A" itself go, the film is again quite accurate although it simplifies the narrative by skipping past some complexities. And, strangely for a movie called "Plan A," it never mentions that there was a Plan B (less sweepingly murderous) and even a Plan C (even less so than Plan B).
I found the visual aspect very impressive. More than once, I marveled that a scene looked exactly as I'd imagined it from reading the history.
The writers and actors seem able to throw important questions out at the audience while still maintaining a feeling of naturalism. My one complaint there is that when someone is asked why the Jews didn't mount more resistance against the Nazis, the movie doesn't provide as full an answer as it could have.
And although the actors gave their all, someone decided to add drama to certain scenes by overdubbing some shivery breathing that the actors obviously weren't really doing. I had to say it. But that said, the movie presents an important episode-- we are still affected today by what, in the end, did NOT happen then-- and treats the attendant questions with due seriousness.
I found the visual aspect very impressive. More than once, I marveled that a scene looked exactly as I'd imagined it from reading the history.
The writers and actors seem able to throw important questions out at the audience while still maintaining a feeling of naturalism. My one complaint there is that when someone is asked why the Jews didn't mount more resistance against the Nazis, the movie doesn't provide as full an answer as it could have.
And although the actors gave their all, someone decided to add drama to certain scenes by overdubbing some shivery breathing that the actors obviously weren't really doing. I had to say it. But that said, the movie presents an important episode-- we are still affected today by what, in the end, did NOT happen then-- and treats the attendant questions with due seriousness.
Nakam
nogodnomasters20 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Text: Based on a true story. After WWII there were two groups of Jews operating in Germany. One consisted of those who wanted to kill as many Nazis as possible and rescue Jews to occupy Palestine and take it over as their homeland. A second group wanted to kill as many Germans, including civilians as possible and most likely foil the plans for a homeland.
This is yet another true story about the cruelty of WWII.
The film moved slow and the characters were boring.
This is yet another true story about the cruelty of WWII.
The film moved slow and the characters were boring.
A poorly executed and poorly written production but a great story in the hands
sandino_owen9 May 2023
August Diehl doesn't suit nice guy roles, and his interpretation in English makes him even weaker. It is a film that had a very good idea, however by limiting it in English it lost strength, lost veracity, a great opportunity to make a great film but it was wasted.
The scenes are sometimes long and meaningless, you can also see some avenging Jews at the beginning of the post-war period, which could have been very difficult due to the chaos in Europe at that time, due to fatigue, not having the correct information and basically being homeless and penniless.
I think August deserves better productions and should find roles that suit his character, not his ideology.
The scenes are sometimes long and meaningless, you can also see some avenging Jews at the beginning of the post-war period, which could have been very difficult due to the chaos in Europe at that time, due to fatigue, not having the correct information and basically being homeless and penniless.
I think August deserves better productions and should find roles that suit his character, not his ideology.
Awful movie.
ashleyfitches6 February 2022
Breathtaking story
christwond4 September 2021
Unusual topic but....
searchanddestroy-110 December 2022
It's not a bad movie, on the contrary, the scheme is daring, and inspired from actual events. But the overall result in terms of acting, directing seems too predictable for this daring story. There is something wrong between the purpose and the development. This movie could have been far better, actually it lacks power, it could have gone further. But, I repeat, the basic topic where, for once, Jews are not shown as purely good guys, intending to poison millions of civilians in revenge, this topic is not that usual, it is rather surprising. So, so summarize, I think it did not deserve a theatrical release, but on the contrary released as a TV movie, it could have been far enough. With less "big screen" production design, it would have been more dramatic, more sober. More effective.
Seriously terrible acting!
qui_j26 June 2023
This movie might be based on an interesting post war event, but is a complete failure due to the absolutely terrible acting. It's at the level of a high school drama production. The actors deliver their lines as if they are reading them directly from a teleprompter, with little or no emotion. The script is childishly written, with poor dialog. The movie trots out all the holocaust atrocities that have already been documented and depicted in so many movies like this. After a while, the movie starts to drag and the inclusion of so many irrelevant scenes make it very boring. Interest is lost early, and the really terrible acting is just too much to endure!
Wow, impressed
eltorti6 November 2021
Very tense film.
Story and history told with great realism.
Never thought on this, then cruelty of humans has no limits.
However the film center the target in another history , leaving the Holocaust scenes for another kind of films. But keep you tense all the time.
Story and history told with great realism.
Never thought on this, then cruelty of humans has no limits.
However the film center the target in another history , leaving the Holocaust scenes for another kind of films. But keep you tense all the time.
A must see
revlis-2354826 December 2021
The untold story
omerbaki4 September 2021
Oscar worthy!
akira-hideyo3 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
An intensely powerful and gripping dilemma of going down a post holocaustic rabbit hole of initiating yet another holocaustic horror from the ashes of such monstrosity. Based on true accounts as claimed, this tale of immeasurable pain and sorrow challenges one to imagine how different world history would have had been recorded and what current state of affairs would see us all in today. It's very pertinent indeed to ask the questions at the end of the story. How many would justify and support pushing the red button for a warranted revenge on crimes against humanity and how many would resist and turn the other fractured cheek to accept to simply live and let yourself live too, move on, let go and evolve to a higher belief that vengeance belongs to the Lord. To each his own.
Reality becomes myth and myth becomes the final reality
deadbull-9517116 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I've studied what has recently been dubbed the "holocaust" for well over 50 years and have unearthed all kinds of things, smuggled out personal documents of victims as well as Nazi records. The period was a historian's dream. The Germans and their allies, particularly the Poles, where so many camps were located, were very proud of their achievements in butchery and slaughter and maintained vast and impeccable records, the bulk of which were captured.
Still, I never heard of this situation. Of course and film that purports to tell a "true story", or better yet, "based on a true story" is usually utter nonsense. Based on a "true set of fictions and blatant lies" is synonymous with "based on a "story".
Still, it doesn't matter. Horror on this level creates its own mythos. The mythos becomes the reality the second the reality ends.
And that story then enters eternity. So this version, whatever the case may actually have been, an idea, a partially carried out notion be a few people, or nothing at all, still serves its metaphoric source of origin well.
There are enough heavily documented acts of retribution and acts of staggering courage during and after incarceration, that only the most virulent of demented anti-semites could deny as they are as real as gravity.
The movie? Terrific and committed acting. One of the better films on the aftermath of the death camps. Its literality is questionable and I'll look for citations, but that isn't so important. There are many references to certain specific that are absolutely confirmed, by photographic records as well as survivors and of course Nuremberg.
Germans don't merely provide the best photographic sexual pornography. They also loved taking pictures of their medical experiments and before they perfected the and industrialized and fully mechanized their death camps, they enjoyed photographing hundreds of people digging their mass graves and then lining them up and placing a 9mm bullet in the back of their heads, lining them up so they would fall into the pits in an orderly sort of way. All captured on film, and so much more.
A montage of real footage in a great documentarians hands would be a devastating film.
Meanwhile, it seems that sometimes the spirit trumps the letter. After all, it is the impulse, the thought made manifest. The myth of christ, "if you sin in your heart" etc. Christ himself, like Krishna and all the rest, there is zero historically reliable evidence o suggest even existed.....but does that matter.
The idea is far more powerful and enduring then anything a starving ragged "prophet" might have actually stated thousands of years ago.
Ideas confer infinities and timelessness, not physical realities.
That's what this movie is about to me. Reality becoming myth and myth becoming reality. It's a great piece of work this with wonderful acting.
Still, I never heard of this situation. Of course and film that purports to tell a "true story", or better yet, "based on a true story" is usually utter nonsense. Based on a "true set of fictions and blatant lies" is synonymous with "based on a "story".
Still, it doesn't matter. Horror on this level creates its own mythos. The mythos becomes the reality the second the reality ends.
And that story then enters eternity. So this version, whatever the case may actually have been, an idea, a partially carried out notion be a few people, or nothing at all, still serves its metaphoric source of origin well.
There are enough heavily documented acts of retribution and acts of staggering courage during and after incarceration, that only the most virulent of demented anti-semites could deny as they are as real as gravity.
The movie? Terrific and committed acting. One of the better films on the aftermath of the death camps. Its literality is questionable and I'll look for citations, but that isn't so important. There are many references to certain specific that are absolutely confirmed, by photographic records as well as survivors and of course Nuremberg.
Germans don't merely provide the best photographic sexual pornography. They also loved taking pictures of their medical experiments and before they perfected the and industrialized and fully mechanized their death camps, they enjoyed photographing hundreds of people digging their mass graves and then lining them up and placing a 9mm bullet in the back of their heads, lining them up so they would fall into the pits in an orderly sort of way. All captured on film, and so much more.
A montage of real footage in a great documentarians hands would be a devastating film.
Meanwhile, it seems that sometimes the spirit trumps the letter. After all, it is the impulse, the thought made manifest. The myth of christ, "if you sin in your heart" etc. Christ himself, like Krishna and all the rest, there is zero historically reliable evidence o suggest even existed.....but does that matter.
The idea is far more powerful and enduring then anything a starving ragged "prophet" might have actually stated thousands of years ago.
Ideas confer infinities and timelessness, not physical realities.
That's what this movie is about to me. Reality becoming myth and myth becoming reality. It's a great piece of work this with wonderful acting.
All WARS are not decent
arthurbcruz4 September 2021
We don't know how to react when situations are personal and confronted in terms of indiscriminate conflict. We know the reprecussions if we don't discriminate and bring a resolution to make sense of stupidity. The dichotomy here lies with retribution; and it's justification to integrate, compromise or reject on those afflected. This beautiful story puts you on that spot of what would you be willing to do and how far would one go to smite the surrerendered enemy. The characters each had will and choice to make that decision, to forgive and move on or mitigate an extreme measure of destruction of countless lives. Life is NOT fair, gives no purpose or solace from those in power who seek power. And we are the ones often who become the casualties. The story remains unending for those who can't help themselves. And of course, we can't rely on Our Lord and Savior.
Wow!!
barbarela-0813015 September 2021
Very moving film.
mcleanmuir15 February 2022
TIMELESS
claudiamendoza14 January 2022
The killing of innocents is never justified
diesoften3 September 2021
It's a masterpiece!!!! Amazing!!!!!!!
ataliaichilov10 September 2021
Lesson Learned! Fight evil with evil, or maintain humanity.
estherasharon12 January 2024
This movie was a complete surprise to me. It exposes the post-WWII vigilante Jewish movement of Jewish war partisans and the role of Abba Kovener a prominent poet.
I was not familiar with the talented brothers, Writers/Directors Yoav Paz and Doron Paz. They created a gripping film of a highly sensitive chapter in history, a highly sensitive matter that bears great relevance to our times. They bring a message to humanity, making this film a must see: the dilemma between the desire for vengeance as justice, the seemingly righteousness of avenging the slaughter and genocide perpetrated by the Nazis, and the moral compass and conscience that "threatened" the success of the mission at hand.
Juxtaposed with the dilemma of vengeance, and the real inconceivability and inpracticality of such vengeance, is the underlying thread questioning why the Jews did not launch more resistance against the Nazis, why they seemingly went like sheep to the slaughter.
Set against Max and the Nakam Team was Michael, the Hagannah soldier in the ranks of the Palestinian Jewish Brigade of the British Armed Forces (under the British Mandate of Palestine). Michael represents the common-sense Jewish resistance to the Jewish resistance!
So the main theme, question of the movie is, is it righteous, correct and practical to fight evil with evil? Or to maintain humanity in the battle against evil, in the struggle for humanity?
What would you do? What would you do if your family, everyone dear to you were murdered for no reason at all?
This was poignantly revealed in the characters discussing the immanent Nuremberg Trials: Will the Law just carry out symbolic and ineffective justice? Would justice not be well served with revenge equal to the Nazi atrocities - an eye for an eye?
The sub-question of why the Jews did not launch more resistance to the Nazi atrocities is answered clearly. Max and Anna answer this without excuses and explanations. Max reiterates, in a variety of situations, that to dream and to hope, to LIVE - are the answer.
His last comment in the film is the final answer to BOTH questions: to go home to Palestine, to live, to build lives and families.
Justice and vengeance were served.
This movie is a statement of and for humanity.
Of mention are the fine international (German, Dutch, Israeli, French) actors - all playing exquisitely in English. They are stunningly impressive and believable.
Brilliant all around on all levels. Thought provoking.
I was not familiar with the talented brothers, Writers/Directors Yoav Paz and Doron Paz. They created a gripping film of a highly sensitive chapter in history, a highly sensitive matter that bears great relevance to our times. They bring a message to humanity, making this film a must see: the dilemma between the desire for vengeance as justice, the seemingly righteousness of avenging the slaughter and genocide perpetrated by the Nazis, and the moral compass and conscience that "threatened" the success of the mission at hand.
Juxtaposed with the dilemma of vengeance, and the real inconceivability and inpracticality of such vengeance, is the underlying thread questioning why the Jews did not launch more resistance against the Nazis, why they seemingly went like sheep to the slaughter.
Set against Max and the Nakam Team was Michael, the Hagannah soldier in the ranks of the Palestinian Jewish Brigade of the British Armed Forces (under the British Mandate of Palestine). Michael represents the common-sense Jewish resistance to the Jewish resistance!
So the main theme, question of the movie is, is it righteous, correct and practical to fight evil with evil? Or to maintain humanity in the battle against evil, in the struggle for humanity?
What would you do? What would you do if your family, everyone dear to you were murdered for no reason at all?
This was poignantly revealed in the characters discussing the immanent Nuremberg Trials: Will the Law just carry out symbolic and ineffective justice? Would justice not be well served with revenge equal to the Nazi atrocities - an eye for an eye?
The sub-question of why the Jews did not launch more resistance to the Nazi atrocities is answered clearly. Max and Anna answer this without excuses and explanations. Max reiterates, in a variety of situations, that to dream and to hope, to LIVE - are the answer.
His last comment in the film is the final answer to BOTH questions: to go home to Palestine, to live, to build lives and families.
Justice and vengeance were served.
This movie is a statement of and for humanity.
Of mention are the fine international (German, Dutch, Israeli, French) actors - all playing exquisitely in English. They are stunningly impressive and believable.
Brilliant all around on all levels. Thought provoking.
See also
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