User Reviews (56)

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  • May be slow at the beginning , but after first 45 min. The movie take another long and deep way of old events , i like it , heart touching and tell us true events . Worth watching.
  • European Cinema has a rich history when it comes to political-criminal genre. Movies like Z, The Butterfly on the Shoulder, Sacco and Vanzetti, The Secret in Her Eyes, The Lives of Others,..etc. took the breaths of their audience in the past decades. And I will add The Collini Case in my 'top movies' list. TCC is a slow paced movie with jaw dropping suspense. Its great storyline, remarkable actings and very clever direction will push you at the edge of your seat for entire two hours. Despite the fact that history has always been told by conquerers, good films in the genre never ceased to fascinate their audience and its the magic of cinema. A very touching film! 8/10
  • DogePelis201513 November 2021
    It's a good movie that has an entertaining plot and Elyas M'Barek's acting is excellent; it is highly recommended.

    It is a German gem that deserves to be remembered.
  • You will enjoy this movie, if you like good courtroom dramas, especially in the second hour it's really enjoyable and thrilling till the end. For me the first hour was way to tedious, to slow-paced with a few unnecessary scenes.

    The movie is about the first case of a young lawyer. In the first place it seems the murder case is rather simple to clarify, but on the second look there is much more behind the curtain as you can imagine.

    After a while i only wanted to know what really happened, but during the second hour i couldn't look away from the tv screen. I think Elyas M'Barek can perform a lot better but the rest of the main cast is acting pretty well.

    Cheers, Boyka
  • A young lawyer defends a killer, ( Collini) who killed lawyer's mentor. While proceeding we found revealing mystery behind killing. Although movie starts very slowly and nothing going ahead till half hour gone, but after that movie starts to grip you and then enjoying shocking suspense till the end. Details of old time law and its codes are described well and we realised that same low is used to save Collini while he could not prove real accused before. Must watchable. Good acting by leading actors. perfect casing.
  • Mr. M'Barek does a good job playing an overzealous young lawyer, new to the game, believing in justice in a world that is everything but fair. Taking over his first case he will have to learn to make choices he did not study in law school. So far the premise seems like a great old sweater, worn many times, but somehow still comfy. Somehow it was knitted with too many different threads of wool. Penned down by at least three credited writers on the leash of nine credited producers, this plot feels overwritten by throwing in bundles of issues and coincidences. Each by its own, fully acted out, would have worked for me. Together it kind of fell apart. I don't know if it's all in the novel, it probably is, but novels thrive on other things than actors creating believable characters. I wish the ambitious script had cut this ambitious lawyer some slack for expanding Mr. M'Bareks portfolio. Three stars and a half.
  • I thoroughly enjoyed the movie although transformation of a person from a sadistic cold blooded murdered into a caring person was a bit unpalatable.

    Moreover, while 10 for 1 retaliation is condemned, and rightly so, in present times 100 for 1 retaliation goes mostly unchecked.
  • mmaguina14 October 2019
    While the plot is somewhat predictable and Elyas MBarek a bit too old for the character he plays the movie is a compelling thriller. Franco Nero delivers a powerful performance. Worth watching!
  • Great legal thriller. Compelling to watch. Good acting all round. Deserves it's rating of 7.2.
  • Maybe this story is not true, but there are thousands of stories like this. It is a memorial to justice, not to law(s). And a reminder against fascism and similar idologies. Watch the movie, read the book. Once, twice and more. Tell all the people you know. This movie is a reminder
  • Although one can imagine where the plot will take you, the movie makes a good effort to keep us interested.

    Characters are believable, the storyline is plausible, and hopefully what is portrait as the motive for the case will never repeat itself again.
  • jwbakker21 March 2020
    Masterpiece. So great that this piece of German history is brought by German filmmakers. Acting and script realistic. Story line exactly the correct pace.
  • dusan-2216 May 2022
    Pretty amusing flick involving mystery and some emotional twist. I noticed some great directing, camera work and very good acting in it. Casting was excellent, great selection. What I also found interesting is a topic of this drama and that are German retributions for guerilla actions in occupied Europe. Severity and amount of those crimes are diminished in this movie because we are talking about millions of civilians shot and not hundred thousands like director suggests at the end. This movie brings shooting of the Italian civilians in ratio 10 for 1 which means ten Italian civilians for one German soldier killed by the partisans while in my country was 100:1. So only in my country hundreds of thousands were killed in those retributions and have to say that Serbia is a pretty small country so you've got a picture (imagine the situation in Poland and USSR). I live by one of the spots were Germans were shooting those civilians. Name of that place is Jajinci (you can google it) and only here 80.000 people were shot. And there are a lot of spots like that in today Serbia and all the way around. In city of Kragujevac Germans couldn't gather enough civilians to shoot for the retaliation that day so they emptied the schools and shot the kids. They were shooting for three days on that October of 1941 as they couldn't kill them all in one day.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    The film is watchable, but not really enjoyable. The characters are quite poorly portrayed, their motives unclear, and the plot is lacking a good starting point and has several credibility flaws. The main character, Caspar, naively takes the case not knowing that he's gonna be defending a man who murdered a grandfather of his childhood best friend, a man who in a way was like a father to him. Despite the overwhelming memories he takes interest in the convict (who, btw, does not speak at all and does not want to collaborate) and does everything in his power to understand him and help him, even if it means he would find out something unpleasant about the man who helped him and supported him so much in every sense. It is extremely unlikely that anyone would act like that in the first place (being compassionate toward and taking a side of a murderer who killed a person you love). Further on, the ways he finds out what had happened are ridiculous. If the murder weapon had not been a really specific gun, Caspar would have never inquired about his client's family (official records of course, since Mr Collini was not willing to talk). Really?! Further on, it does not seem likely that Mayer, who committed such a terrible crime, would be so kind towards a Turkish boy and his mother. Further on, the relationship between Caspar and Johanna is seriously messed up and what are the odds that despite his multiple betrayals (defending a man who killed her dear grandfather, insisting on defending the man whose motives he does not know despite everything, triumphantly publicly disclosing that her grandfather was a Nazi, etc) she would be looking for his attention and a shoulder to cry on. And further on, and further on...
  • Starting like a better TV crime movie, The Collini Case turns suddenly into one of the best drama films I have seen for a long time. A very emotional and also shocking movie and yes, real good cinema from Germany. I hope for a nomination for the oscar for the international feature film.

    Don't forget tissues, and please note that the movie has some (necessarily) heavy scenes.
  • The movie was slow at the start and kept you guessing what really made the accused murder, Was he paid for the murder? Was it men-slaughter? Was it a corporate crime? Once the defendant lawyer started digging, the movie started to pick up.

    Overall the story is beautifully done and edited - A bit slow but it needed the pace as it was quite emotional.

    100 % recommended if you like legal drama.
  • I won't give anything away to spoil the plot or outcome but this is a brilliant courtroom thriller with fantastic performances. The lead actor is superb and easy on the eyes if you like a tall, dark, and handsome look. The film isn't one that spends a ton of time in a courtroom, and it gives the viewer many other fascinating scenes and locations which help build the momentum of the awesome story. One of the better films I've seen lately. Available to stream on Tubi as of July 2021.
  • Wonderful and well written. Great actors, scenes and script.
  • butkutesea10 October 2019
    Good plot and interesting story but the long shots do not give any extra information nor create the right atmosphere
  • rtrampler30 April 2019
    Not what you would expect from Elias M'Barek but it was better than I could have imagined. The story from von Schirach discusses moral and he depicts legal issues in an outstanding manner without being boring to outsiders. I would really recommend watching the movie.
  • Very good plot with good acting. Predictable, but, yet, good entertainment.
  • clanciai24 February 2023
    There is nothing strange about the murder. It is committed in broad daylight, the murderer walks out on it with blood on his hands and bloody footprints, and he is taken care of immediately. The strange thing is he doesn't care. For him the case is clear and finished, and he has nothing more to live for, so throughout the trial, as long as possible, he just stubbornly keeps his silence, leaving the world in a mystery.

    Thanks to an arduous lawyer, that mystery is gradually revealed. He is reluctant to take the case, since the victim of the murder was like a father to him, and when he wants to back out, it is too late. He has to go to the bottom of it, which certainly isn't easy, because of his imposed client's persistent silence.

    Franco Nero makes an unforgettable impression and impact as the quiet murderer, who refuses any communication, until he is faced with a childhood friend of the days of the war 1944 in Monte Catini, whose father was executed after the war as a collaborator with the Germans, although he was no more than an interpreter, forced into their service. A grim drama is revealed in flashbacks memory by memory, which can leave no one untroubled. It's just a novel, but it is too realistic and convincing not to be founded on truth. In fact, there were innumerable cases like this, and the Germans actually executed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians just for reprisals for nothing.
  • moritz-frueh12 November 2020
    Warning: Spoilers
    It is a really good movie and time flies even if this movie has about 110 minutes. It's not only a movie it's also a historical catch up and criticism about the after war handling of Germany. I'm really sad right now!
  • Watching this movie, one of the many problems you are going to notice right away is the lack of character development. There is not enough backstory for any of the characters for the viewer to really connect with them.

    The second biggest problem probably arises from the first one. The movie is nowhere as engaging and immersive as the director/cast is hoping it is. This movie failed to generate the right emotional response at the right times. It being a trial court drama, one intuitively links it to the "A Few Good" men and sighs at how this movie just falls short at its climax.

    Nice try but meh.
  • An unexpectedly sensational and touching movie. The pictures are greatfull and I can recommend the film to anyone!!
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