Change Your Image
justusderdv
Reviews
Man on the Train (2011)
Enigmatic Ending Explored
I am writing this in response to some already well written reviews here wherein the ending of the film is questioned. You should watch the film before reading this, and then come back and see if my thoughts don't help you reach some clarity.
It should be clear to any viewer that this is a film with strong literary bones. Good writing never provides the reader with quotes from great authors randomly. Those quotes are meant to help us understand what is to follow. Therefore, when the Professor (Donald Sutherland) quotes Henry James that "Americans want tragedies with happy endings," we are given a key to the different endings that follows the climax.
The term "tragedy" means the hero must die. We see that happen, in this case two men who are foils, or reflections of one another, die. But then, we see them alive again, going about their lives in reverse. The average viewer, particularly Americans, will not appreciate the purposeful ambiguity. There are other literary clues dropped. For example, the discussion as to how to find the meaning of a poem. If you take the time to watch this film carefully, and note the literary clues as they are dropped, you might come to love this film.
The Good German (2006)
Challenging questions about good vs. evil
I believe that evil and good are separated by clear individual choices. So does Jacob Geismar, the main character of Steven Soderbergh's film "The Good German." By the film's conclusion, both Jake and myself are left speechless for long moments. The realization that evil can be granted so much power by society that goodness is eclipsed is a stunner.
The good German in question is Lena Brandt. Lena is a beautiful Jewish woman who claims the heart of correspondent Geismar. Like Berlin itself, Lena has been both a victim and a perpetrator. Like many who survived the Holocaust, she has had to make difficult choices. Are those choices excused by her victim-hood?
The film, shot in a grainy black and white that blends with newsreels of the period, is an homage to the tough-guy cinematic detectives played so well by Bogart. If you are a Bogart fan, you'll like watching "The Good German." On that level, it is an enjoyable film.
The themes are meant to disturb however. The horrors visited upon mankind by the technological might of Nazi Germany did not end with the occupation. New horrors awaited the world as the Russians and Americans grabbed up the German scientists who could provide the rocket science to deliver nuclear warheads, opening all humanity to new fears presaged by the Blitz experience suffered by Londoners.
What happens when an entire society is preempted by evil forces? Can any one individual survive such forces without becoming tainted by evil? These aren't easy questions and the answers provided by "The Good German" might leave you stunned.