The flight of a chartered airplane begins under the most auspicious of stars : the weather conditions are good, the passengers behave like lambs and the various crew members are so experienced they could fly their machine with one eye closed. At lunchtime, however, both passengers and crew are offered a choice between a meat and a fish course. Nobody realizes that the people unlucky enough to have gone for the halibut get a free helping of food poisoning...
Taut, efficient, no-nonsense adaptation of Hailey's story. The performances are good, the pace is relentless and there is a nicely maintained sense of tension and suspense. The movie is also blessedly free of stunts and special effects. As a result "Flug" far outshines other, more melodramatic and baroque airplane catastrophe movies ; it's like a slender, well-trained athlete running away and disappearing into the distance, while a dozen wheezing couch potatoes try to hobble along without suffering a heart attack.
However, there was an element of unintentional humor creeping in. In "Flug" the characters smoke like chimneys, especially during moments of great stress ; they also like their cup of coffee. It results in a lot of juggling - give me a cigarette, I'll take that map, you take these headphones, here's a nice cup of coffee, do drink another coffee, here's your cigarette, no it's mine, give me the map, do sit down, do you like your coffee black, there's nothing like a good cigarette, I'll answer the telephone, have you seen my cigarette, where's my pen, is the transmission quality constant, I'm preparing two coffees, time for another cigarette, have you seen my coffee ? I was hoping the movie would go fully Orientalist and offer us some nargile scenes complete with Turkish delight and candied rosebuds, but nah, our German neighbours are a sober lot.
Taut, efficient, no-nonsense adaptation of Hailey's story. The performances are good, the pace is relentless and there is a nicely maintained sense of tension and suspense. The movie is also blessedly free of stunts and special effects. As a result "Flug" far outshines other, more melodramatic and baroque airplane catastrophe movies ; it's like a slender, well-trained athlete running away and disappearing into the distance, while a dozen wheezing couch potatoes try to hobble along without suffering a heart attack.
However, there was an element of unintentional humor creeping in. In "Flug" the characters smoke like chimneys, especially during moments of great stress ; they also like their cup of coffee. It results in a lot of juggling - give me a cigarette, I'll take that map, you take these headphones, here's a nice cup of coffee, do drink another coffee, here's your cigarette, no it's mine, give me the map, do sit down, do you like your coffee black, there's nothing like a good cigarette, I'll answer the telephone, have you seen my cigarette, where's my pen, is the transmission quality constant, I'm preparing two coffees, time for another cigarette, have you seen my coffee ? I was hoping the movie would go fully Orientalist and offer us some nargile scenes complete with Turkish delight and candied rosebuds, but nah, our German neighbours are a sober lot.
