Alone in Berlin – A powerful exploration of grief during a horrific period of history.
I’m not usually into war movies but Alone In Berlin was intriguing especially as it tells the story of impact of war on a couple whose son has been killed, it’s based on a real life story and shows the power of the written word.
Berlin, 1940. Working class couple Otto (Brendan Gleeson) and Anna Quangel (Emma Thompson) receive the news that their only son has lost his life in the battlefield. While Anna morns, Otto starts a secret mission of his own, to warn others about the consequences of following the Nazi regime.
Factory worker by day Otto secretly pens postcards at night. Postcards featuring increasingly strong comments against the regime. Each day he ventures out and discretely leaves a postcard on the steps of strategic monuments for people to find.
After a while Anna joins him on his quest, their actions giving them a way of making something positive from their loss.
As the postcards mount soon the Gestapo gets word and starts hunting “the threat”.
After a while Otto decides it’s not enough to simply place a postcard and walk away, he decides to stay and watch the readers reaction.
Thompson is superb as you would expect, her slow transition from anguish to love is utterly believable, but it is Gleeson’s detachment that makes the movie.
Alone in Berlin is a powerful exploration of grief during a horrific period of history, all the more because it is based on a true story. A reminder of the futility of war and its impact beyond those fighting.
Now showing at Event Cinema and Luna Cinemas.
