tonygriffen

This is a pseudo-psychological reinterpretation of the defense of Westerplatte. It is full of hysterics, pregnant pauses, unsubstantiated in documents conflicts and dramas. The unit defending the outpost was in reality hand-picked, and the commanders were seasoned and battle hardened. Instead the movie is trying to portray them all as screaming, hysterical old women, running back and forth. This is an awful movie with some decent albeit low budget special effects.

Perhaps the movie was trying to be trendy and "questioning", but questions it is trying to ask are unsupported by evidence, and the answers are confused and consisting primarily of emotional outbursts.

Add to this subpar play by the actors who occasionally seem surprised by the script, and you have a recipe for a D movie. Skip.

The strongest part of the movie are beautiful sceneries throughout the movie, and the photography, particularly in the initial scenes of the arrival to the camp. Once the escape begins, alas, the story begins to unravel, until finally about half way it turns into a bizarre sappy Hollywood story jumping from ridiculous to PC, back to ridiculous, and finally to nauseatingly sweet Hallmark Christmas card. This is easily explained because today we know that while the real-life hero, Cornelius Rost, was indeed a prisoner in a hard labor camp in Siberia, there was no escape, he was released in 1947 and returned home. So, the scenes related to the camp are riveting because he describes them from experience, but once he starts making stuff up, the story falls apart. Part of the blame has to be taken by the director. All in all, I would say watch until Forell/Rost is rescued by a group of Yakutsk Chukchi herders, then switch to something else.

I cannot believe some of the critical comments here. If you expected The Godfather, Steel Magnolias, or The Deer Hunter, this is NOT your movie. This is a family, Christmas, feel-good tear jerker. This is not a movie you later discuss with your friends over Chardonnay and cheese. Sure it is predictable, but all Christmas movies are. Abigail Breslin steals the show as young Emily. She is delightful. Someone commented she is preachy at times. If that surprises you, you have never seen children before. Yes, she is preachy, but in a delightful way. Perhaps it is not the best movie in its genre, but it is warm and pleasant to watch for the family. It's a Christmas movie.