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SPOILERS+++Did you vote on Dresden? Care to share your vote and reasons?

posted 18 years ago by LookinGood
7 replies | jump to latest

I rated the film "5". According to my scale for reviews "5: Only OK. Barely worth watching. The line between staying or leaving is very thin."
Well, I left. That is, I only watched the first part.

If I had expected a melodrama, I might have stayed. But the film missed on so many accounts. We didn't really see what was going on in the city (packed with refugees from the east; the front was approaching). We didn't see what was going on at the Air Force Command in Great Britain. The whole first part essentially revolved around the Mauth family like a home story. Father steals Morphine to pay for the family's escape to Switzerland (please!! in February of '45?). Then there is this R.A.F. pilot, shot down near Magdeburg, who for some unknown reason decides to walk all the way to Dresden (150 km one way, eastward, I'd say). Of course, he speaks German (although he doesn't speak very much). A lot of it seemed contrived.

There were some attempts at interesting plot strings, for example the Goldberg family (a famous German Jewish Philologist, Victor Klemperer, survived the war in Dresden, because his Protestant wife wouldn't divorce him). I don't know whether this was developed in part 2, maybe someone can comment on this.

Just my 0,02€ :-).

[–] real-little-frog 18 years ago

I rated the film a 10. You should have definitely watched the second part. I was very shocked. I have seen war films before, but nothing quite like this bombing. I did not imagine it to be just like this enormous fire ball. I was particularly interested in it as my grandfather was in dresden when the bombing started. He was lucky he got away somehow, he was wounded but he managed to catch the last train out of dresden. The second part definitely showed more of the war side of things, less of the love story. Although I must admit I did like the love story as it reminded me a little of my own (my wasn't of course as dramatic). I know they showed only a very little part of what was going on, they just focused on one family. But to show more, I think they would have to make it a series of 10 or more episodes. I will definitely make my sister watch it as soon as I get the dvd.

[–] andrew-jones5 18 years ago

The firestorm was well done for a TV film. But the plot was just daft. The RAF in film is shown in a bizarre way. There are tapes and tapes of radio transcript. I have listened to some, the guys in planes in this film didn't sound like the RAf at all. Why did they just use the original recordings of the radio? Instead they used badly acted attempt at it.

The crew wandering a round the planes chatting on the intercom, debating the morality of it all while over the target FFS. Almost as stupid as the Memphis belle screen when they call of the bomb run due to a school.

Cover the politics of it, the Russians call for a bombing campaign in the east, how rabid Bomber Harris had got. Maybe even show the few dissenting voices in Britain. But show for the most part it was just another mission and the arbitrary nature of target selections

'Work is the curse of the drinking classes' Oscar Wilde

[–] Theora23 16 years ago

I gave it a 6. Important topic, and the parts about the actual city and the bombing were good, but the melodrama was just exasperating.

[–] tombo19842000 15 years ago

10 - It is very rare to find a movie in which not one actor/actress performs badly... Not one!

Add to this it tells a very important story both negative and positive involving families. How bad things can really get in war. How innocent people on both sides can be effected by a mad mans ambitions to conquer the world.

List goes on... Definately deserving of 10 out of 10!

[–] Eradan 14 years ago

I rated it '5' as well. My take on "Dresden" is that it's like two separate movies mushed together. The longer of the two is a ridiculous soap opera about a whorish girl who cheats on her fiance with some guy she finds hiding in a basement. I would have rated this crap zero if it were possible.

The other movie is a good but not great account of the Dresden Holocaust. I would have rated it '6' if I could have. It completely left out the USAF attack on the city the morning after the two British attacks. This operation killed thousands of people who had survived the night of horror. It's inexplicable that the movie leaves it out...

[–] chrissso 8 years ago

I don't think it inexplicable ... as a matter of fact it makes sense. The bombing of Dresden occurred over 3 days. They had to draw the line somewhere otherwise the film would have been 12 hours long. On the other hand it is curious that there is almost no mention of the USAF thus giving viewers the impression that it was all the Brits doing.

[–] chrissso 8 years ago

I give it a eight (8 of 10). I think this is an amazing film that was hurt by melodrama (the ending ... the sex scene in the hospital ... Robert showing up at party ... TWICE). The film was well researched ... has historical significance ... looked great ... featured a great cast ... and the effects were AWESOME!

Had they cleaned up the script a bit this film could have been among the very best WW2 films ever!