Synopsis
Kurt Gerstein—a member of the Institute for Hygiene of the Waffen-SS—is horrified by what he sees in the death camps. he is then shocked to learn that the process he used to purify water for his troops by using Zyklon-B, is now used to kill people in gas chambers.
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Cast
- Ulrich TukurKurt Gerstein
- Mathieu KassovitzRiccardo Fontana
- Ulrich MüheSS-Arzt
- Michel DuchaussoyKardinal
- Marcel IureșPapst Pius XII.
- Ion CaramitruGraf Fontana
- Friedrich von ThunGersteins Vater
- Antje SchmidtGersteins Frau
- Günther Maria HalmerPastor Dibelius
- Hanns ZischlerGrawitz
Recommendations
- 80
Washington Post
It's not every day that movies present a Teutonic character in SS uniform as an unambiguously moral hero, so enjoy this rarity. And the film. - 70
Village Voice
Costa-Gavras provides a post-war postscript to make clear that honesty is punished; cynicism survives. - 63
Chicago Tribune
Costa-Gavras' powerful, awkward Amen is a dramatically uneven historical thriller. - 60
Salon
Tricked up with so many points that there's barely any flow to it. - 50
New York Post
While Amen works as a history lesson, it's less effective as a thriller, since the outcome is sadly all too well-known. - 50
New York Daily News
Amen is propelled by a most dubious assumption -- Gerstein's belief that if the German people knew of the Holocaust, they'd stop it. - 50
The New York Times
In the end Amen is neither as moving nor as illuminating as it should be. It suffers especially when compared -- as is inevitable, given the closeness of their release dates -- with "The Pianist," Roman Polanski's movie about a Polish Jew during the Nazi occupation. - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
Unfortunately, structural flaws and a built-in lack of suspense keep it from being nearly as moving as it was intended to be.
