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Amen
Release
Date: July 12th 2oo2
Distributor: Patheacute;
Certificate: TBC
Starring: Mathieu Kassovitz, Ulrich Tukur, Marcel Lures, Michel Duchaussoy,
Ulrich Muuml;he,
Director: Costa-Gavras
Running Time:
132
minutes
This
film tells the true story of an SS officer who, during World War II, tried
to inform the Pope about what was happening in concentration camps across
German held territory.
Kurt Gerstein was
a real-life chemist and SS officer. As a chemist, he had invented the
Zyclon B poison gas compound for use on animals, but the Nazi's had another
use for it.
Using it in concentration camps, they put millions of Jews to their deaths.
When Gerstein, played here by Ulrich Tukur, found out what his gas was being used for, he was horrified, and he used his position to try and sabotage his own production of the gas. He also denounced these crimes and tried to alert the Allies, the Pope, and the German people, putting both himself and his family at risk...
Greek director Costa-Gavras delves into the murky waters of the Vatican's role in the Holocaust with 'Amen'. Did the Pope really turn a blind eye to what the Nazi's were doing, or was the knowledge kept from him by other parties in the holy city? Although the film gives credit to the many priests who made a stand against the savagery of the Nazi political machine, often paying for what they said and did, with their lives, it does not answer this fundamental question.
The
clergy is represented by a young Jesuit priest, Riccardo Fontana (Kassovitz)
who makes it his mission to inform the Pope of what is going on.Unfortunately the film's major flaw is that you know how it's going to end. The Holocaust wasn't stopped, the Pope didn't denounce the Nazi's and the true horror of what happened wasn't discovered until the allies invaded Germany. And Costa-Gavras doesn't help with his pedestrian direction or a rather un-heroic lead character. Oscar Schindler he isn't
But 'Amen' definitely has its heart in the right place, and any film which reinforces the historical fact of the Holocaust (which some people STILL believe never happened) is a good thing.
Go and see it, just don't expect to be entertained.
Clayton Everett
