Beautifully Shot, Horribly Written
From the opening shot through the end credits this movie was masterfully shot.
The writing, however, is some of the most contrived, trite drivel I've seen on screen in a year. Dialogue was just so dorced forced like that of a first year college playwright. Even some heavyweights couldn't save it. Caine will always be fun to watch, but you can see Keitel tripping in the inauthenticity of the banter.
I'm fact the whole movie just seemed so inauthentic. From the "I can't remember my parents" lines to the hamfisted thrusting of "important" lines, to the whole Hitler subsection, it was like Paolo wanted to just make something pretty and meaningful bit forgot that meaning needs authenticity to set stakes.
Really a painful watch. Granted, English isn't Paolo's first language and this should be remembered (though it's hard to forget as the whole script reeks of Google Translate). This move would improve dramatically with all dialogue taken out and the really interesting score played on top. And that's a sad statement for a movie about deep conversations near the end of life.