Hearts of War

Moviecut—Hearts of War

After reading some of the bad feedback from other reviews, I decided to watch it anyway. Unfortunately, they were all spot on. Its rather a shame too, as the it 'looked' quite authentic with some decent effort made towards costume and setting. Even the cinematography was at a decent standard. However, everything else was pretty bad, terrible even. The main thing that let it down was the bad script which led to some appalling dialogue and acting at times. Some scenes are laughable its that bad. The funniest scene been at 43 minutes when a boom mic appears in shot for about 10 seconds. I've given it a 3 simply for the mise en scene.

Everything about this movie is bad. I rented it on DVD because I like WWII movies, and the poster suggested something like "Schindler's List" with a love angle ... But it just doesn't fly. The "Poet" is actually a young German soldier who spends most of the film moping and feeling sorry for himself. Herein consists, far as I can tell, his "poetic demeanor". We are also supposed to sympathize with his troubled conscience over his part in the war. But this is hard, as he is (wait for it!) a spy infiltrating the countryside to report on partisan movements and pave the way for the German invasion of first Poland, then Russia. When the Jewish couple escapes the massacre of their village, their midwife suggests they get a job on - of all places - a large German base ready for the invasion of Russia. While such employment is obviously treason on the part of Polish civilians and would be severely punished after the war, we are also asked to believe that German soldiers would knowingly accept Jewish non-prisoners as employees while the SS was killing all over the countryside. We are supposed to be awed by the female lead's love for her "poet", yet she prostitutes herself to German officers at the camp as if a matter of course. Which it would hardly have been for a Jewish village girl in 1941. The cutting is awful, and almost every scene is theatrically conceited and wholly unbelievable. There's really nothing to like about this movie - avoid at all costs.

Films about WWII are countless and specially those who focus on brutality and murder of Jews. (Anyway it will always be difficult to match "Schindler's List").But, including all of them, this is the worst that I've ever seen. The screenplay is just awful and the whole story is not to be believed. The main characters engage in a romance that is not love at first sight but at an eye blink. If this would not be enough, the romantic pair is played by amateur actors. I wonder what Roy Scheider is doing in a film like this, although he shows a good performance in a small part, almost a cameo. The same applies to Darryl Hannah. There is a cabaret scene in the film that is simply disrespectful to those Jews who endured persecution and mass assassination.

I thought I'd seen WWII done in just about every possible way, but this is the first time I've seen a movie involving German soldiers traipsing through the Polish/Russian countryside gathering information on partisan cells. If only it were done better, and without the ridiculous plot, I'd have been very interested, but it went wrong almost from the start. Terrible screenplay, horrible weird accents, silly love triangle plot etc & etc. While watching it I didn't realize the small part of the rabbi was played by Roy Scheider, who I thought had died before this movie was made, and it amazed me that the actor was so much like that great actor, and at how well the part was being played in such an otherwise poorly acted movie. I caught Scheider's name on the closing credits. A pity such a fine performance was wasted in such a poor movie. Saw this under the DVD title 'Hearts of War.' Thankfully I bought it for a dollar.

I liked the storytelling in this film. Also the plot twists were pleasant and although the end was predictable the storyline is captivating. The romance was realistic, but sometimes a little exaggerated. Rachel's story should be more developed. The actors were good, the decor was brilliant and the cinematography also. The flaws I've seen so far: Time errors? No way you can get a baby that fast. Factual error? In this movie some scenes go by too quickly without a good transition of time. Revealing mistakes: Crew equipment and mike visible in at least 3 shots. In despite of some flaws a good cinema film.

I saw this movie at the Staten Island Film Festival. There were about 500 people in the audience. The filmmakers stayed after to answer questions which was cool. It is a compelling love story about a Jewish girl who falls in love with a German soldier in World War 2. The film also has plenty of action. Good battle scenes. Rachel and Oscar fall in love after he saves her life during a terrible snow storm. He saves her life again when Germans are attacking her Polish village and she and a Jewish boy are at gunpoint. Oscar sends the two off, instructing them to try to escape to Russia. Rachel travels to the Russian front line but is hunted by German soldiers at each and every turn. Oscar ultimately regrets his decision to send Rachel away and his mother, played by Daryl Hannah, convinces him to go find her. It culminates in an unpredictable and explosive ending. The film looks great. Roy Scheider, Colm Feore and Kim Coates round out a cast which includes good up and comers in Nina Dobrev, Jonathan Scarfe and Zachary Bennett. The leader of the Russian partisans, played by Lara Daans, is also a standout and arrives on the scene just when you think there's no more plot twists to be had. Overall, this is a very strong film that paces well, is beautifully shot, has interesting characters and should appeal to everybody.

I am being generous by giving this movie a 4 out of 10. Please don't be fooled by the "9.3" score it currently has. You can thank the cast and crew of the movie which are obviously rating their movie on IMDb. The only reason this movie gets a 4, is because of that cute girl that came out in that horrible movie "My daughter's secret." I am being generous by giving this movie a 4 out of 10. Please don't be fooled by the "9.3" score it currently has. You can thank the cast and crew of the movie which are obviously rating their movie on IMDb. The only reason this movie gets a 4, is because of that cute girl that came out in that horrible movie "My daughter's secret."

I watched this film after giving the good review on IMDb the benefit of the doubt. I have always been a fan of war films, but I have to say this particular one was a big disappointment. The acting is mostly hammy (especially that of the poet himself; who is a rather overtly sentimental German soldier) and small blunders (Like the boom mike dangling at the top of many frames) don't help. The story is very predictable and makes one wonder whether the whole WWII genre has been done to death. If you've read previous reviews and synopses, you would have already gathered that the main hook in the film is the union between the German soldier and the Rabbi's daughter. It barely gets beyond that. Watch only if you've got nothing better to watch.

The Poet