The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. There's a problem loading this menu right now. I kept the copy for several months without viewing it. Germany Year Zero Effectively 'resetting’ the historical time-clock for a nation whose political regime perpetrated the worst atrocity of the 20th century, Rossellini’s masterstroke here is to intimately portray (and warn against) the potential future through the eyes of Edmund Moeschke’s 'innocent’ 12-year old, Edmund Kohler, wandering the streets of war-torn Berlin – the youngster, in effect, a metaphor for past complicities and complacency. Certainly, one of the most remarkable things about Germany Year Zero is its seamless, convincing overall look-and-feel, given that Rossellini’s cast was drawn from almost exclusively non-professional actors and that the film was shot (as it turns out, brilliantly in black-and-white by Robert Juillard) via a mix of on location and studio sequences (the latter frequently against rear screen projections of Berlin). Being an admirer of Mr. Roberto Rossellini, the great genius of cinema, I had the greatest expectations when I rented this movie--and oh boy, this film was everything except disappointment; it had everything that was truly great. Of particular interest is the character of Herr Enning, an ambiguous figure with vaguely pederastic leanings, whose worldview has been unalterably twisted by Nazi ideology. As the dead tyrant’s vaingloriously hectoring voice resounds through the political Ground Zero of the land he led to its destruction, Rossellini’s notion of the physical power of ideas comes to life with a sardonic irony—one which foreshadows the incomparable pathos to which the movie builds, in its focus on young Edmund and the warp that such ideas wreaks on his unformed character. Previous page of related Sponsored Products, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 December 2017. Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy (Rome Open City / Paisan / Germany Year Zero) (The Criterion Collection), Fall of Berlin: The Restored Soviet Two-Part WW 2 Epic (DVD). We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Looking for something to watch? Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 October 2017, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2012, great film! "Zero" in on this brutal, yet heartrending drama. The long opening tracking shot through the devastated streets of Berlin under the Occupation in 1945 sets the almost hallucinatory tone, with the focus of the story being a 13-year-old boy's degradation under the social conditions of the defeated city. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 October 2017, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2012, great film! Germany Year Zero is the final part of Rossellini's great neo-realist war trilogy, (which also includes Rome, Open City and Paisa). With Edmund Moeschke, Ernst Pittschau, Ingetraud Hinze, Franz-Otto Krüger. One striking scene in “Germany Year Zero,” from 1947, which I discuss in the clip above, features a record that the young protagonist, Edmund, is given by a predatory teacher who seeks to infuse him with an unrepentant Nazi ideology—a recording of a speech by Hitler, which the boy takes to the ruins of the Reichstag, along with a portable record player, in the hope of selling the relic to American or British soldiers doing the victors’ tour. There's a problem loading this menu right now. The pictures show the devastation and the movie shows what, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 December 2015, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 March 2016. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness. Living in a bombed-out apartment building with his sick father and two older siblings, young Edmund is left to wander unsupervised into the black-market schemes of a group of teenagers and coming under the nefarious influence of a Nazi-sympathizing ex-teacher. Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2009. The final part of Roberto Rossellini’s acclaimed 'war trilogy’ provides a good example of how you do not need a film of 'epic dimensions’ (1948’s Germany Year Zero running to a mere 70 minutes) to convey what are epic themes for a nation (and, indeed, not to put too fine a point on it, for the future of humanity). Unable to add item to List. Passionately recommended. Use the HTML below. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2020, Good insight on a family in Berlin after the war. Having recently been uprooted to Milan, Rocco and his four brothers each look for a new way in life when a prostitute comes between Rocco and his brother Simone. Quickly browse titles in our catalog based on the ones you have picked. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Germany Year Zero was everything I remembered -- a blunt examination of life after World War II. A young German boy faces the problems of the tough life in the immediate post WWII Berlin. There's a problem loading this menu at the moment. Rossellini’s 1948 film of Berliners trying to cope with the immediate aftermath of defeat in the Second World War won many plaudits on its release, but also received much criticism. This movie was shot in Berlin in 1948. Video availability outside of United States varies. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. A child caught between the corrupting false idealism of Nazism and the hope of a future beyond the desolation of Berlin. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. Germany Year Zero takes place in post-war Germany, unlike the others, which take place in German-occupied Rome and post-war Italy, respectively. No filmmaker was more fastidiously attentive to the physical world of the stories he told, and no filmmaker was more furiously devoted to ideas as a motive force in history and private life. Germany Year Zero subtitles. The language barrier has tragic consequences in a series of unrelated stories set during the Italian Campaign of WWII. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness. A child caught between the corrupting false idealism of Nazism and the hope of a future beyond the desolation of Berlin. A child caught between the corrupting false idealism of Nazism and the hope of a future beyond the desolation of Berlin. Add the first question. However, I understand that the situation then was very dramatic. Learn more about DVD region specifications. Rossellini’s 1948 film of Berliners trying to cope with the immediate aftermath of defeat in the Second World War won many plaudits on its release, but also received much criticism. Illustrated booklet featuring essays and credits, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. The pictures show the devastation and the movie shows what, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 11, 2015, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2016. All rights reserved. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 April 2017. This heart-rending portrait of a decimated post-war European city is a damning indictment of war and fascism and remains one of the most effecting films in the history of cinema. See other DVD options under “Other Formats & Versions”. Image's DVD of Germany Year Zero is an Alfredo Leone presentation, the busy producer who brought us the Mario Bava classics on DVD. AKA: Germania anno zero, Spain (Germania, anno zero (Alemania, año cero)). the desperation depicted in this movie really shows the horrors of war for all people - even the ones who initiate it and lose. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon.