Good (2008)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Vicente Amorim

Writers:

C.P. Taylor (play)
John Wrathall (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 December 2008 (Hungary)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Anything that makes people happy can't be bad, can it?

Plot:

The rise of national socialism in Germany should not be regarded as a conspiracy of madmen. Millions of "good" people found themselves in a society spiralling into terrible chaos. A film about then, which illuminates the terrors of now.

Plot Keywords:

Dementia | Novel | Professor | Germany | Neurotic

Cast

Viggo Mortensen	...	John Halder
Jason Isaacs	...	Maurice
Jodie Whittaker	...	Anne
Steven Mackintosh	...	Freddie
Mark Strong	...	Bouhler
Gemma Jones	...	Mother
Anastasia Hille	...	Helen
Ruth Gemmell	...	Elizabeth
Ralph Riach	...	Brunau
Steven Elder	...	Eichmann
Kevin Doyle	...	Commandant
David de Keyser	...	Mandelstam
Guy Henry	...	Doctor
Adrian Schiller	...	Goebbels
Rick Warden	...	Brownshirt

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Ireland:15A | UK:15 | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Good Films

Trivia:

The music played at the end by the Jewish prisoners is Gustav Mahler's first symphony, third movement. This movement uses as one of it's themes a parody of the popular children song "Frère Jacques", and the whole symphony borrows heavily from one of Mahler's song cycles, Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen. The last song, "Die zwei blauen Augen" (The two blue eyes) can be heard sometimes during the movie, as in the end of the movie shoot and as part of the symphony's movement being played.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: In the scene, when Halder takes a walk with his ex-wife in the cemetery, which is supposed to be in Berlin, Germany, Hungarian names are clearly visible on the gravestones.

A very subtle film

I thought it was a very good film. Quite a different portrayal on the topic of Nazi Germany from what we are used to. Shows how at the end of the day, the Germans were not people with horns, everything that was going on was very normal to them, everybody was doing their part in a country that was, after a long period in the dark,was finally thriving. They could not see the full picture. This film makes you wonder what you would have done had you been a German in that period. At first the main character in the film does not even support the Reich, him being a Literature professor, especially after having seen them burn all them books. But by the end of it, he winds up in full Nazi attire. But its way too late then.