Ususally, I don't watch recent WWII dramas, especially those taking place in occupied France. Honestly, they're often much too depressing, and they seem to delight in the horror of the situation and to shy away from delving into what human dignity, love, and self-sacrifice may have still surfaced, even between opposing sides. But this film was not depressing at all, although it didn't avoid the realities of what Nazis (even, apparently, hot sensitive caring musical Nazis) were doing to those who opposed them. It didn't romanticize at ALL, and yet it was not depressing as most Nazi-centric films. The film WAS frustrating. During the penultimate scene - I won't spoil it, for those with no eye-control - I couldn't breathe at all. But when I started breathing again I got that good shiver that separates the Art from the "merde." The strength of this film was its commitment to truth. The slightest cinematic indulgence - or audience-indulgence - would have ruined it, turned it into a fantasy, and made it a mediocre melodrama. But the brilliant writer and director avoided that pitfall, and let life show through in all its brilliance.
Review of The Silence of the Sea
