7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
During WWII SS officer Kurt Gerstein tries to inform Pope Pius XII about Jews being sent to extermination camps. Young Jesuit priest Riccardo Fontana helps him in the difficult mission to inform the world.
Starring: Ulrich Tukur, Mathieu Kassovitz, Ulrich Mühe, Michel Duchaussoy, Marcel IuresForeign | 100% |
War | 47% |
Biography | 12% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.84:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The history between Christians and Jews, and specifically that between the Catholic Church and Jews, is obviously fraught with conflict and turmoil, and despite ameliorative efforts over the years (especially recently), there is still manifest distrust between the two groups, a distrust that provides a perfect wedge for the typically provocative Costa- Gavras to explore a still debated concatenation of events surrounding the horrors of the Holocaust in World War II. There’s absolutely no question that there was a real life historical figure named Kurt Gerstein, a Waffen-SS officer who was tasked with developing technologies to combat rampant diseases like typhus. There’s also no question that Gerstein, who worked for the relatively innocuously named Institute for Hygiene, became aware that his development of poison gas had been adapted for other “uses” like the Final Solution, and that in an understandable state of shock, he attempted to alert various authorities, evidently including various administrators within the Vatican itself. There’s also no dispute that Gerstein was captured as a prisoner of war after hostilities ceased, and that he penned an eponymous report detailing the horrors he had witnessed and then perhaps curiously committed suicide. Just about everything else swirling around these basic facts has been hotly contested in various circles ever since, including the perhaps most serious and provocative allegation, that Pope Pius XII was informed about the mass murder of Jews taking place in the concentration camps and decided to more or less hold his tongue about the issue. This particular element was dramatized in a highly controversial 1963 play called The Deputy, a Christian Tragedy, which in turn provided grist for Costa-Gavras’ cinematic mill. While the film may in fact be at least partially fictionalized, it still is a riveting document that details how all sorts of people—both laymen and officials alike—turned a blind eye to the unfolding carnage that Hitler and his acolytes unleashed upon the world. While devout Catholics may understandably be a bit defensive (or perhaps even more than merely a bit) about some of Amen.’s hypotheses, the underlying truth of a world going about its business (even if that business was at least in part the horrors of war) while millions were shuttled off to camps and gassed to death, is addressed cogently if perhaps obviously in this film.
Amen. is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.84:1. Costa-Gavras doesn't sugarcoat anything here, but the film still has a somewhat glossier look than some might expect, with some of the opulent environments that the upper echelons of the Nazi command enjoyed popping quite nicely in high definition. The director and his cinematographer Patrick Blossier opt for a lot of extreme close-ups (so much so that at times only parts of faces are in the frame), and those shots exhibit great fine detail. Colors are generally accurate looking, though not especially vivid, with the famous Nazi reds coming off a bit on the orange side. The film does have some softer elements that look quite a bit gauzier than the bulk of the presentation, notably some battle and camp scenes that are filtered toward the blue end of the spectrum and which do not offer the same level of sharpness and detail that the rest of the film does.
Amen.'s lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix offers some good immersion in scenes that feature large groups (whether they be soldiers or those shuffling into various holding facilities), but by and large this is a dialogue driven affair that typically presents small coalitions of people talking to teach other. Though the film is (mostly) in English, few of the actors appear to be native English speakers, and accents are quite heavy at times, something that the lack of subtitles might make a problem for some listeners. That said, everything is very cleanly and clearly presented here, and the track boasts excellent fidelity and surprisingly wide dynamic range.
Amen. has a certain lack of dramatic impetus since just about everyone is going to know how the story ends, at least in general terms if not specifically with regard to these characters. Costa-Gavras posits an almost intellectual debate at times here, which is an odd tactic for such a visceral piece of history. Still, the film is often fascinating and offers good performances and an extremely handsome production. It may not ultimately move the heart, but it at least engages the mind. Recommended.
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