Synopsis
Berlin in June of 1940. While Nazi propaganda celebrates the regime’s victory over France, a kitchen-cum-living room in Prenzlauer Berg is filled with grief. Anna and Otto Quangel’s son has been killed at the front. This working class couple had long believed in the ‘Führer’ and followed him willingly, but now they realise that his promises are nothing but lies and deceit. They begin writing postcards as a form of resistance and in a bid to raise awareness: Stop the war machine! Kill Hitler! Putting their lives at risk, they distribute these cards in the entrances of tenement buildings and in stairwells. But the SS and the Gestapo are soon onto them, and even their neighbours pose a threat.
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Cast
- Emma ThompsonAnna Quangel
- Brendan GleesonOtto Quangel
- Daniel BrühlEscherich
- Mikael PersbrandtPrall
- Katharina SchüttlerClaire Gehrich
- Louis HofmannHans Quangel
- Rafael GareisenHerbert Wegner
- Hildegard SchroedterIda Kuhn
- Ernst StötznerDptm. Head Walter
- Godehard GieseColonel Krüger
Recommendations
- 70
Village Voice
While not the most formally adventurous or action-packed picture, it is a film of compelling urgency. - 67
The Playlist
There is always something of value in the sincere recreation of ordinary heroism. And Perez’ film does sincere if ordinary justice to the idea that where there is a will for it, resistance can find a way, be it so small as to be postcard-sized. - 60
The Guardian
Filmed with competence rather than actual verve, Alone in Berlin works – just about. There’s enough of a thriller about it to hold the interest, even if it’s a bit on the stodgy side. - 60
Variety
Tastefully lit and art-directed throughout, with a somberly mellifluous Alexandre Desplat score to ease it along, this fact-based drama finally cushions its harshest emotional blows, though Brendan Gleeson’s deeply sad, stoic dignity in the lead cuts through some of the padding. - 50
The A.V. Club
A lump in the throat inspired by real-life heroism is all that this dour, monotonous drama has to offer. Indeed, it’s easy to guess that the story is fact-based—it’s far too blah to have been invented from scratch. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
Handsomely packaged, the film unfortunately is also too well-behaved and lacking in psychological depth to really set itself apart from countless other WWII dramas. - 40
The New York Times
Adapted from Hans Fallada’s 1947 novel (and based on a true story), Alone in Berlin is dour and flavorless. - 40
The Telegraph
Pérez relies on his cast to do what they can with sketchily written roles, and also to pull off that dodgiest of acting tasks, speaking English with a pronounced German accent – something the stars curiously manage with much more shading and conviction than the mostly Teutonic supporting cast.
