MovieChat Forums > Sophie's Choice (1983) Discussion > The flashbacks are what make this movie.

The flashbacks are what make this movie.

posted 8 years ago by timeslord
3 replies | jump to latest

I felt the real-time storyline wasn't up to much, I could never get to care for any of the male characters at all and was only watchable because of Streep's great performance. But once we get to the flashbacks with the little information we've gathered before... you know something not good is going to happen and that made me stand at the edge of my seat on both occasions. Did not hurt that Streep did her best acting on there.

I felt that as a whole the movie isn't that great, and it is Streep what makes it work. anyone else feels the same?

[–] Degree7 8 years ago

I thought the whole plot line with Nathan being a crazy schizofreak was a big twist, and his obsession with the Holocaust added a lot of historical interest to the film.

~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.

[–] houstonhacker 8 years ago

Agreed. They could have cut out the Kevin Kline character altogether and I would have liked it more with just flashbacks.

Plus, the writer sucked. Every time the old man read from his memoirs, it sounded like he spent way too much time trying to sound clever and flowery. Instead it sounded like something a high school junior hack would write for his English class.

[–] ColumboKate (5308) 3 years ago

I came here to say the same thing.

Someone recommended this for me to watch as it's the best portrayal of aushwitz they'd seen.
The flashbacks were excellent and very engaging... . they forgot to mention however, how dull the rest of the film is.

If you like a tragic melodrama then you will love it. If you want a film set around concentration camps you will hate it.

The film is 2 hrs 30mins and there's maybe 30 mins (probably not even that long) of flashbacks.