demiurgiac

In 1983 as a young male U. S. citizen, I took a train from West Berlin to East Berlin one day. After enjoying most of the day there it was early afternoon and I decided to return to West Berlin via Check Point Charie but didn't know how to get there. I found a kind park and asked 3 or 4 other men if they could direct me to Check Point Charlie. No one seemed to be able to help me (I didn't speak German). Then a very attractive young woman approached me and asked (in good English) if she could help me. Long story sort we ended up have coffee at place she recommended. Probably spent 3-4 hours with her. Loved it. After watching this movie I thought about that experience and couldn't help wondering if...

I love classic movies (it's about all we watch). That said, this has to be the oddest one with unbelievable characters and unnecessary sub plots that I can remember watching.

I have not read Somerset Maugham's work that this movie is supposed to be based on but it's just got to be a better story than this.

Coincidence?

Seems to me this is little more than a remake of "Bad Day at Black Rock"(1955)".

Both are way too Woke for me. In fact "Red Hill" is so over the top Woke that I was just barely able to watch the last half hour. And then only to see, out of idle curiosity, how they end it.

While this one can easily be picked apart on several levels, we loved it. There is more to old movies than having a tight plot and great acting.

Also, if you have already watched it, Google "Sultan Sea". Very interesting 'real' story how "his family" home came to be under water.

After loving 1-4 we could not believe how bad 5 is... don't bother.

A wonderful gentle tale about a elderly retired British officer reflecting on his experiences in WWII based on little know but actual horrific events that occurred just after the German surrender.

I have never been a big Zachary Scott fan but I found his portrayal of an alcoholic ex-cop wonderfully entertaining. I also enjoyed the photography.

Even accounting for Historical Context, this was a Gawd Awful waste of talented actors and my time. None of the characters were the least bit believable.

Visually stunning, great acting, implausible story, especially the last coupla episodes. Set in the 60's with today Liberal sensibility's. (Warriors don't tell their fellow warriors they "Love" them. They don't need to.

They made no attempt to tell the actual story. While this telling may be interesting to some and entertaining to others, it is, by and large, fiction. Subjects as serious as this should stay as close to the known facts as possible. Everything from the character "Hanna" (it was actually a male) to the silly "escape with seconds to spare" sequence at the end. Any true lover of history will scoff at this telling, especially since the actual story is at least as interesting as this fairy tale.

When a plot line sets you up with a surprise a ( like the two secret torture rooms in the bad guy's house), then later those rooms vanish into thin air, the story is obligated to later explain to us how the bad guy did it. They never did. Very dishonest story telling.

A secondary criticism... the Politically Correct multi-racial casting was a bit distracting... but then, that's what's fashionable these days.

We don't watch enough TV to have known about the flap over this show getting canceled. Just stumbled across it on Netflix. Wow. Nearly everything about this effort is really done well. They really went the extra yard concerning production details. I don't pretend to really know why it was canceled except to say it was not because its a bad or boring production. Even though we all know the outcome (more or less) the story is told so well it still qualifies as a mystery or thriller and sorta-kinda has you on the edge of your seat as they start getting closer and closer to 'the mole'. I didn't pay any real close attention when all this actually occurred. After watching this show I am now compelled to read books like "Sell Out: Aldrich Ames and the Corruption of the CIA.

Started out look'n pretty good, then went from bad to worse. All the same old liberal narrative about the rich bad guys and the poor good guys, in this case immigrants (sound familiar?). Any kind of movie that attempt to persuade politically, to be any good, has to do it with some measure of finesse, you know, so you don't even know your being persuaded. One gets the feeling right away that there is very little depth to the movie as we watch our main protagonist start out with a resolve to track down the bad guys only to learn (according to this narrative) they aren't the bad guys at all. (Example: When a rich guy makes reference to his front lawn 'our guy' replies 'I wouldn't know, I have never had a front lawn. (Message? America is a really bad unfair place.) This movie is soooo heavy handed. Example: To show how our main 'poor guy' couldn't be guilty, they take the time to show that he like children and kitties... well, I imagine Hitler and Stalin did too.

As an old white guy I have this knee jerk reaction to resist all things not American. Darn. That said, and considering all the dribble that comes out of Hollywood these days, juxtaposed against this truly wonderful film from China, all I can say is... if this is the kind of stuff they are capable of, "Hollywood, look out". One of the things that makes this movie so compelling is that it is not a "Chinese" story, its a "human" story. While the production and graphics are stellar, its the STORY that steals the show. How many times have we all sat through an hour and a half of incredible (and often gratuitous) graphics with a mediocre story sandwiched in between stuff being blown up. Here the graphics are truly great, but take second place to whats important... the story.

The others post here, so far, have failed to focus on the primary issue. PLANNING! This hike was doomed before it ever began. To begin with, none of these folks should ever have tried this extreme hike without a lot of other, less ambitious hikes in order to gain the proper experience. (1)Almost no one over the age of 70 should have attempted this hike. (2) Almost no one 15-16 years old has the experience for this hike without capable leadership such as a profession trekking organization. (3) A $500 EPERB Would have ended the drama before it began. (4) NEVER hike in that kind of brutal conditions between 10-4. (5) Weather forecasts are pretty accurate now. They should not have even gone with the kind of heat that was expect.

I am 70 years old and have spent a lifetime adventuring. I know what I am talking about. I am as fit as one can be at my age but would NEVER agree to be responsible for those young lives in that environment. There are dozens of beautiful hikes (i.e. Tahoe Rim trail) these folks could/should have chose. I was perplexed that the older gentlemen would even agree to be interviewed for the program. Had I been responsible for that boy's death I would have moved away in shame, never to talk about it to anyone.

This is a well acted, well produced, well directed, and reasonably watchable little tale about how Americans are mean and uncaring (the cops, the guards), how they are stupid (the woman's comments about "Oh yes I was in South Africa recently"), and how unfair we are (panning up to the huge American flag as "Mom" is forced to return (a 1-way trip) to Syria. All not very subtle, all just a little heavy handed. It's as if the alternative, if 'we' really wanted to, would be to have a fair, equitable immigration policy that worked so well that only terrorist were deported and all the 'good' illegal immigrants got to stay and live happily-ever-after.