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Reviews
Schachnovelle (2021)
Intellectual starvation of a beautiful mind
This was an excellent movie, that grabbed me from the beginning to the end. Real violence was more in my own imagination, than actually shown, although it was also there. But physical violence was not the point of this movie and the novel from Stefan Zweig, which I also enjoyed as a teenager. Stefan Zweig, an Austrian from Vienna himself, was a huge admirer of contemporary German intellectuals, such as Thomas Mann, which was echoed by the German, and can still be read in their frequent exchange of letters. Both came from families of writers and bohemians and although I always loved Stefan Zweig (his 'Sternstunden der Menschheit' is one of the most beautiful books ever written), Mann is towering them all even today and one of Mann's books is thrown into the fire bin in this movie. Both were outspoken anti-Nazis and forced to finally leave their home countries. In the Schachnovelle, Zweig imagines a kind of intellectual torture, that only highly educated men could do to one another. After the socalled 'Anschluss' of Austria, the invading Germans decide to go after jewish properties and the notary Bartok is in charge of those. But he is not willing to tell them the passcodes of Swiss bankaccounts, so they pressure him, until he does. And to get to a cultural person like him, who is able to recite homer and more, they starve him intellectually, by taking away any book or other occupation in solitary confinement. No windows, little light, no speaking to other people - just always the same song ('Ich wollt ich waer ein Huhn - I wish I was a chicken') over and over. We never know, if he did tell them, or not. But in the end, when he gets away, he is not himself anymore and I cried when it became clear later on, that he had only imagined his beloved wife to be with him (whom he had successfully sent away to Rotterdam, before the Nazis grabbed him). A beautiful mind had been destroyed. What this has to do with chess? In a drastic way, you realize, that intense occupation with the game can indeed drive you into insanity. You wanted to learn something about chess? This movie is not for you. I am sure Stefan Zweig was a lover of chess, just as myself. And in his novel, he anticipated somebody like Bobby Fischer, just around the time, when Fischer was born (1941 vs. 1943). But is it really necessary to leave a bad review, just because you do not learn anything about the game? What a performance from Oliver Masucci this was. I was speechless. Now, I am only asking myself: How is it possible, that I did not see the movie earlier? Why did it not get more attention at the time?
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
A time machine for myself
I have to say that I am a big fan of the Marvel Universe created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby since the 70s. I remained a comic fan all my life (with a clear preference of franko-belgium comics) but, as a grown up finally, I still love everything from Mark Millar, too (The Avengers, The Authority, Spiderman etc.). I guess I have seen most of the Marvel movies, necessary in order to follow the storyline of Endgame. It was amazing to see that the authors had planned most of the events already a long time ago (watch Iron Man 1, if you do not believe it). To me and our boys therefore, this was not just a movie, it was a proper event over 3 hours. I was laughing about Bruce Banner making his personal peace with the Hulk character and Thor transforming into the dude. I was crying for Natascha and Tony (nobody saw it) and I was on the edge of my seat in the end. After a while I had realized, that the whole time in the cinema, I felt like I used to as a child when I was in a dream. That was a bit odd but that's what it was. While we were all blown away by the power of the movie, now, some hours later, our house is grieving. It feels like we lost a family member today with Tony Stark. All I want right now, is to watch the first Iron Man for the 5th time and then work my way through the Marvel Universe again. You guys from Marvel, Stan Lee up there in heaven, I salute you!
Warrior (2011)
This is not a movie about fighting - it's about love and forgiving
I just watched this movie for the fifth time in 8 years. What is clear to me is, that this is not about fighting or winning. This is a movie about love. Love between brothers and forgiveness to their alcoholic father who failed them over and over again. What is so impressive to me is that none of the three guys in the movie (Hardy, Edgerton, Nolte) seems to know a way to show their deep love to any of the others. They are wearing this "fighter person suit" (Hardy especially. brilliant) but are also able to show us the vulnerable child that was left behind. I thought it is only me but when I showed this gem of a film to my niece, who is a big movie fan and was only 18 years old at the time (I should mention she has also two brothers), I could observe my own first reaction to it multiplied by ten: she was crying so hard in the end (and also in between) that we needed to comfort her. After calming down she told us that this was one of the most beautiful movies she has ever seen (and who am I to contradict her).