Genre: Drama
Related Titles: Anna Karenina, Alone in Berlin, The Lives of Others
By Leanne Harragan
Rachael travels to the ruined city of Hamburg in 1946 to meet her husband Lewis, a British colonel in charge of the city rebuilding project. She is surprised to find that she will be sharing a house with it's previous owners, a German widower and his young daughter.
While this film has a good cast and is shot beautifully, I just fail to see the point. It doesn't really seem to go anywhere and that makes it incredibly hard to keep interest for the whole time.
Given away by the title, the film is set in the aftermath of the Second World War in Germany. This is something that I've generally seen less off in the cinema, it seems more common for post-war films tend to be set in Britain. This immediately allows for some long sweeping shots of the ruinous state of Germany in the post-war area, setting a tone for the whole film.
The plot follows Rachael a British woman travelling to Hamburg to meet her husband. On her arrival to Hamburg, it's immediately shown that there is plenty of division in the country, with Nazis protesting on the streets and the rest of the country trying to pick up the pieces left behind. Beyond this, there was also division within the remaining British officers, with some sympathising with the Germans and others seeing them and treating them as scum because of their portrayal during the war.
While the film begins at a good pace and sets up for a good story, it all falls short as it becomes easily predictable. Set for the majority in a house, it quickly becomes stuck in one place and even the odd venture out into the wider world seem the same because the main story doesn't ever waver. Rachael's character development comes out of nowhere really, one moments she is hating the German man whose house she is living in, next moment she is having an affair with him. It's not overly well done, as time is really spent truly showing the two bonding.
From the main players in this film, performances are strong. Keira Knightley takes up her usual role in the form of Rachael, she continues to prove that these roles are her bread and butter. Alexander Skarsgard gives a slow and subtle performance as the forbidden love interest, mourning husband and struggling father. Jason Clarke plays husband Lewis, a man struggling to cope after the loss of his son, rekindling a romance with his wife and sympathising with the German people, unlike most of the other officers around him. All three give great performances but the subject matter around them seems tired.
This film has it's strengths, but it definitely has it's weaknesses that for me personally just outweigh it's positives. Not a complete shot in the wrong direction but not strong enough to be a solid film either.
Rating: 5/10
By Rebecca Mannick
The Aftermath follows Rachael Morgan as she moves to Hamburg post World War II. Her husband Lewis is patrolling the streets while Rachael stays back in a mansion in which they are staying in which belongs to German Stefan Lubert. Usually the German family should move out of the house however Lewis welcomes them to live in harmony - this is after Lubert is cleared of Nazi checks. Rachael is very wary of Lubert and his daughter however there relationship suddenly turned on and a story of love, sex and betrayal panned out.
I guess the concept of the story seemed to be thrilling and mysterious but it really didn't play off well. The premise of the movie was that Rachael shifted from Lewis to Lubert something already outlined in the trailer so there was not really a thought of it, more of when. Then when it did happen it all came about so abruptly it was honestly quite weird. With all the big names surrounding this you would expect it to be quite good but it really really didn't pay off well. When I left the cinema there was more of a feeling of why - why make this movie - it wasn't particularly dramatic, not funny, not scary, not informative. Just a weird love triangle.
A sign also of a boring film is that you kind of start clock watching as I definitely felt all 108 minutes of its running time. The five points I'm giving for the performances from the three main actors, Kiera Knightley, Jason Clarke and Alexander Skarsgard who all did a good job and pushed their character to the small limit they had.
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