Unravel the Mystery of the Good German. Review on The Good German Movie

In general most of us watch a certain movie admire it/ criticize it and eventually forget about it in a few days. However, there are a few select movies that leave a lasting impression. “The Good German” turned out to be one such movie as far as I am concerned. I saw this film a few months back and yet, I can vividly recall almost every scene even today. Its out on DVDs now, and I know its definitely going to be a part of my collection.

I strongly believe that the “script” is the backbone of any film and half the battle is won if you have a good script in hand. This film is adapted from a novel written by Joseph Kanon and the screenplay is written by Paul Attansio, who has done a splendid job.

The Story:

The film takes you back to the 1940s era. Precisely, 1945 – World War II has just ended, Berlin is in shambles, and different parts have been divided amongst the various occupying powers namely the Americans, Soviets, French and the British. An American war correspondent Jake Geismer(George Clooney) arrives to cover the “Peace Conference” to be held in Potsdam, scheduled to be attended by stalwarts like Churchill, Stalin and Truman. It was the first time that he was coming back after the war. In the pre-war period, Jake was running the Associated Press' Berlin bureau before he left. Geismer is picked up at the airport by his assigned driver, fellow American Patrick Tully(Toby Maguire).

Tully turns out to be a street smart soldier, who is dishonest and a black market profiteer, but has access to all the different areas occupied by the various powers. He is in love with a woman named Lena(Cate Blanchett) who is desperate, and wants to leave Berlin at any cost. One evening while Tully and Lena were hanging out at a bar, they ran into Jake, who immediately recognized her, as he had an affair with her during his stint at Berlin earlier. However, Jake discovers that Lena is now his driver’s girlfriend. The two pretend to ignore each other at the time. In the mean time, in order to help Lena, Tully strikes a deal with the Soviets that he would turn over to them a guy named Emil Brandt, (whom they had been looking for) in exchange for help with the escape of Lena. It was a lie, since Lena had told him that Emil, had been killed during the war. It was a risky move, but Tully was game for anything.

However next day, Tully winds up face down in a river with a bullet in his back with 100, 000 marks in his pocket. Jake wants to investigate the matter, but does not get much help from the Americans or the Soviets. Both sides are interested in closing down the matter. The more he tries to uncover the mystery, the more things get complicated. He finds himself still in love with Lena and tries to help her out by providing her a temporary hideout before he can help her escape out of Berlin. On top that, he has multiple issues to deal with namely Colonel Muller(Beau Bridges), who is hatching a plan to bring back Nazi missile experts to the US; Bernie Teitel(Leland Orser), an old acquaintance who is trying to prosecute the Nazis; General Sikorsky(Ravil Isyanov), a Russian who has his own scheme in order to out smart the Americans and periodic kidnappings of nuclear scientists in addition to dozen other war crimes going on.

Does Jake finally discover the murderer, can he help Lena escape out of Berlin, in spite of uncovering her dark past and who is Emil Brandt after all? These are some of the questions that will be answered toward the climax of the movie and the writer keeps you engrossed enough, so that you are as intrigued and looking for those answers as the character of Jake. In fact, the twists in the plot are so well executed that it feels that one is trying to unwrap a present that has been packaged in several boxes and you are opening one box at a time.

The ending sequence may appear straight out of “Casablanca” but keep in mind, this film is not “Casablanca”. In fact this film transcends several genres and is more of a suspense thriller, drama, romance all woven into one.

Cinematography: This film has been shot and edited by the director Steven Soderbergh himself. Soderbergh has continued to use his pseudonym(Peter Andrews) for cinematography of this film as well. He has truly succeeded in creating a 1940s black and white film, shot in 1940s style. Some of the deep focus shots are absolutely mind blowing. The use of lighting and camera angles is near perfect, inspite of the use of incandescent lights only as far as lighting is concerned. The film was shot strictly in the studios, and no modern zoom lenses were used, as was the norm in those days. In fact this film can be used for teaching technical aspects of film making at film schools.

Direction: Having a tight screenplay always helps, and the director was definitely supported big time on that front. There were some scenes, which could have been done differently, but then each film maker to his own. Soderbergh, who has directed films like “Erin Brokovich”, “Traffic”, “Oceans 11”, “Oceans 12” etc has done a decent job, but I would say that direction could have been better.

Performances: The three lead actors George Clooney, Toby Maguire and Cate Blanchett have done very well. This was the first film of Blanchett that I saw, where her hair is dyed black(she is usually a blonde). She excels as the desperate femme fatale, who would go to any length to get her way. Toby Maguire as the sleazy solider was superb. He should really be doing more films like this than flicks like Spidey. George Clooney has an intense look through out the film and he looks and feels the part.

Flaws:  This tale of murder, romance, war crimes and corruption may seem a bit complicated to some. The director has tried his best to unravel the mystery but some questions remain unanswered. It may appear that the director tends to be too fixated with creating the look and the styling of the film.  Sometimes, it may be hard to believe that Jake and Lena were ever in love and even more complicated to understand his desire to help her in spite of knowing / not knowing everything.

But then, nothing is perfect hence I give this film four stars instead of five stars.

Over all, a “must see” for film lovers.