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Reviews2
pollack-bob's rating
This may be the finest film I have seen in years. Four hours and I wanted more. The story, characters, script, photography, acting, history are so artfully done, it is hard to imagine how to have made it better (or shorter). The Industrial Revolution had yet to reach Prussia, but in the midst of this backward village, a romantic and scientific mind emerges, who becomes our hero. Everything appears to be historically accurate with a bit of fantasy thrown in to bring brightness to the basic dreariness. How does Jakob become proficient in Spanish and English? Not important. But how does he become a master of Amazonian native languages and carry on a correspondence with the great Alexander von Humboldt! Well that's just a special filmmaker's dream we accept with all the mundane reality. All in all a wonderful film.
Aside from the music, which is at best only fair, this film suffers from a horrible script, an absurd plot, weak acting (save Bjork) and a totally unbelievable ending.
I was really anticipating watching this film--I normally enjoy von Trier's work (Europa, Melancholia, Breaking the Waves) and was sucked in by the high 8.0 rating and all the awards it won. But now checking the other films that the fans of this movie liked, I should have been much more suspicious of the high rating. I have also now read some of the glowing reviews of those who felt this was a masterpiece. Clearly, their brains work much differently than mine and there is no accounting for taste in movies or music or any other form of entertainment--e.g. I can't watch a vampire, horror, or destruction film, regardless of the rating.
I can honestly say was among my very worst film experiences. So base, I had to add this to IMDb--my very first entry.
I was really anticipating watching this film--I normally enjoy von Trier's work (Europa, Melancholia, Breaking the Waves) and was sucked in by the high 8.0 rating and all the awards it won. But now checking the other films that the fans of this movie liked, I should have been much more suspicious of the high rating. I have also now read some of the glowing reviews of those who felt this was a masterpiece. Clearly, their brains work much differently than mine and there is no accounting for taste in movies or music or any other form of entertainment--e.g. I can't watch a vampire, horror, or destruction film, regardless of the rating.
I can honestly say was among my very worst film experiences. So base, I had to add this to IMDb--my very first entry.