Apparently this movie was based upon a novel from Stephen King which I haven't read yet, so don't expect any comparing between the book and the movie from my side. What I can do for you is to explain how I feel about this movie and I must say that it left me with a double feeling. The acting and the story were OK, most of the time at least, but the entire concept of the movie didn't convince me once. It even disturbed me, but not in the way that you probably expect.
The movie gives us the story of a 16 year old boy, Todd Bowden, who learns more about the Holocaust at school. He gets fascinated by it and starts reading and learning more and more about it. And then he makes a big discovery. He sees a man on the bus who appears to be Kurt Dussander, a Nazi war criminal, who now lives in his neighborhood under the assumed name Arthur Denker. Instead of turning the man over to the authorities he makes a deal with Denker. If the former Nazi tells him what life in the concentration camps was like, he won't tell anybody what Denker's real identity is. What follows is a strange cat and mouse game between Denker and Bowden that will end with a vicious murder...
The subject, talking about an old man who appears to be a former Nazi who now lives in America and pretends to be a sweet old man, isn't bad. Even the idea that he has lived an undisturbed life since he arrived, but now his true identity is discovered by a young student is OK. But it is everything after that that bothers me. For instance, why do people in Hollywood always think in stereotypes when talking about former Nazi's? I mean, sure what they did was horrible and it is almost impossible for us to understand why so many Germans knew about it all and didn't do anything, but many of those former Nazi's and soldiers now live a normal life, even though some of them still meet each other and seem to be proud of what they did during the war. (This isn't a thing that I make up, in Belgium for instance the 'Sint-Maartens-fonds' (you could translate it as the Saint-Martins-fund), still organizes the Belgian SS-soldiers who fought in the USSR against the Bolsjewism and I once saw a meeting of former SS and Wehrmacht troops in Austria, only a couple of years ago). But, opposite to what Hollywood tries to make us believe, these people aren't pure evil. I mean, they aren't torturing people during these meetings or creating plans to take over power and to chase the Jews...
This movie does exactly that. It shows how Dussander changes into a Nazi again as soon as he puts on the uniform and is ordered to march. And that's only the start. Immediately after, he tries to gas and fry a cat in his oven (I guess the cat has to stand for the hundreds of Jews which Dussander killed personally), and eventually even kills a man...
Another problem that I have with the movie is that it shows how Todd starts to study Nazism and the Holocaust and eventually changes into a bad guy himself. If that's true than be very afraid when you meet me, because I read a lot of books about WWII as well and yes I even read books about the Nazi's. Never have I felt the need to kill someone or something, but if you have to believe this movie, than I might turn into a disturbed and hating person myself...
If you think that this movie is realistic, than I guess you should try to find out more about WWII yourself and especially about the Nazi's, because I guess it's fear of the unknown, that makes believe that this is a very realistic movie. Oh well, as a character study this movie isn't bad. Just don't take it too serious like I did, than you won't be very disappointed by it. I give it a 5.5/10.
The movie gives us the story of a 16 year old boy, Todd Bowden, who learns more about the Holocaust at school. He gets fascinated by it and starts reading and learning more and more about it. And then he makes a big discovery. He sees a man on the bus who appears to be Kurt Dussander, a Nazi war criminal, who now lives in his neighborhood under the assumed name Arthur Denker. Instead of turning the man over to the authorities he makes a deal with Denker. If the former Nazi tells him what life in the concentration camps was like, he won't tell anybody what Denker's real identity is. What follows is a strange cat and mouse game between Denker and Bowden that will end with a vicious murder...
The subject, talking about an old man who appears to be a former Nazi who now lives in America and pretends to be a sweet old man, isn't bad. Even the idea that he has lived an undisturbed life since he arrived, but now his true identity is discovered by a young student is OK. But it is everything after that that bothers me. For instance, why do people in Hollywood always think in stereotypes when talking about former Nazi's? I mean, sure what they did was horrible and it is almost impossible for us to understand why so many Germans knew about it all and didn't do anything, but many of those former Nazi's and soldiers now live a normal life, even though some of them still meet each other and seem to be proud of what they did during the war. (This isn't a thing that I make up, in Belgium for instance the 'Sint-Maartens-fonds' (you could translate it as the Saint-Martins-fund), still organizes the Belgian SS-soldiers who fought in the USSR against the Bolsjewism and I once saw a meeting of former SS and Wehrmacht troops in Austria, only a couple of years ago). But, opposite to what Hollywood tries to make us believe, these people aren't pure evil. I mean, they aren't torturing people during these meetings or creating plans to take over power and to chase the Jews...
This movie does exactly that. It shows how Dussander changes into a Nazi again as soon as he puts on the uniform and is ordered to march. And that's only the start. Immediately after, he tries to gas and fry a cat in his oven (I guess the cat has to stand for the hundreds of Jews which Dussander killed personally), and eventually even kills a man...
Another problem that I have with the movie is that it shows how Todd starts to study Nazism and the Holocaust and eventually changes into a bad guy himself. If that's true than be very afraid when you meet me, because I read a lot of books about WWII as well and yes I even read books about the Nazi's. Never have I felt the need to kill someone or something, but if you have to believe this movie, than I might turn into a disturbed and hating person myself...
If you think that this movie is realistic, than I guess you should try to find out more about WWII yourself and especially about the Nazi's, because I guess it's fear of the unknown, that makes believe that this is a very realistic movie. Oh well, as a character study this movie isn't bad. Just don't take it too serious like I did, than you won't be very disappointed by it. I give it a 5.5/10.