Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Amen. Blu-ray Movie Review

The final absolution.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 10, 2014

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.

There’s a certain apprehension about the Nazi party that many of its members were almost Satan worshipping occultists, an impression perhaps fostered by a glut of books and then documentaries that have appeared over the past several decades. But the fact is that most of those in the upper echelons of power were actually (supposedly) devout Christians, and many if not most of those were indeed Catholics. It’s an obviously unsettling combo that seems to fly in the face of all the nobler attributes of Jesus’ teaching, not the least of which is (perhaps obviously) “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. But this disturbing dialectic is at the heart of Amen. (the film’s orthography includes a period after the word) and provides the film’s dramatic impetus. The history may be in question, of course, but there’s a gut wrenching “truth” in a meta form that infuses Amen. and helps it to escape from being a mere screed.

While the bulk of the controversy surrounding Amen. has centered on the supposed involvement and/or knowledge of Pope Pius XII, the film actually concentrates more on the interlinked stories of Gerstein (Ulrich Tukur) and a Jesuit priest named Riccardo Fontana (Matthieu Kassovitz), a character who is here utilized to counterbalance the otherwise shocking noninvolvement of the clerical class as Gerstein attempts to make everyone aware of what’s going on behind the barbed wire of camps like Auschwitz. While Costa-Gavras’ central thesis is perhaps only too obvious (a sort of cinematic equivalent of pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous “first they came” poem), and the fact that there’s no actual suspense in terms of how the general story is going to play out (it’s not like Gerstein’s efforts are going to amount to anything, as evidenced by the actual historical record), there’s still some surprisingly effective drama at hand in Amen., though it verges on the sort of visceral intensity that accompanies the best propaganda at times. (One other controversy that attended Amen.’s theatrical exhibition—namely its logo, which combined the swastika with the cross—has been somewhat reworked for the cover of the Blu-ray, with a lessening of the cross aspect so that probably only those who have seen the original logo will “get” the symbolism.)

Amen. opens with what is arguably its most visceral scene, a sequence which follows an activist into a meeting where he decries what’s happening to the Jews and then summarily kills himself. It’s an obviously shocking way to start the film, but in a way it perhaps sets the wrong tone as well as too handily summing up the film’s very message. The audience who has just witnessed the suicide is momentarily appalled and then seems to regain its composure, and of course this is Costa-Gavras’ main thesis throughout the film—that even that which is even momentarily in sight can be quickly out of mind. But it makes the next two hours a somewhat frustrating slog as both of the main characters simply ping pong from one intentionally ignorant person to the next.

Many viewers are going to already know going into this film that most in the world turned a blind eye to the horror, and so this becomes something of an archeological dig rather than a traditionally plotted drama. The real tragedy here is of course what happened to the Jews and the other afflicted souls who found themselves rounded up and herded into death camps. Amen. wants to make the linked but still tangential point that those aware of the tragedy who did nothing were as culpable as the actual villains. Having one of the two main characters end up in an act of identification that spells certain doom may actually cheapen the ultimate calamity of the Holocaust, but it at least brings home the idea that one’s personal reaction to any given disaster is the ultimate test of character.

Amen. Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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. Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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. Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Pius XII: The Pope, The Jews and the Nazis (1080p; 1:02:02) is a really interesting and well done 1996 British documentary done for a series called Reputations. It's fascinating to contrast what the historical record is with the fictionalized version presented in the film itself, and some may actually prefer to begin with this piece before moving on to the feature film.


• 2014 Theatrical Re-release Trailer (1080p; 2:09)


• A Conversation Between Costa-Gavras and Film Critic Wade Major, 2013 is a well done, focused commentary featuring L.A. critic Major, who moderates a wide ranging discussion which covers everything from the factual bases of the film to some of the changes that were made to the actual story.

Amen. Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.