Al servicio del Reich

After having seen over 200+ movies and shows about the second world war, I have actually never seen what this movie so clearly shows... During the peak of warfare - i.e. As of 1942 - many german men already perished at the eastern front or are still on active duty in some non-german country. So, that basically leaves many german cities with a lot more women than men. And as a young adult single male, residing in a large city like Frankfurt must have gathered a lot of attention from the female counterpart. And that's regardless of the women being single or married, with their husband serving in the army or SS.

Based on true events, this movie is about life as a non-german "foreigner" in Frankfurt. It shows how german people see relationships with non-germans. A showcase of not only german discrimination, but even more so the cruel practices of the SS (Gestapo), it makes one aware of how evil humanity can be to its own kind.

A combination of very good acting and some very convincing movie sets of the 1940's era, the movie "transports" the viewer to Frankfurt during WW2.

Overall, this movie deserves a score of 7.4/10, just barely missing the point where it would have received an 8-star IMDb rating.

I was totally absorbed watching this movie. It was beautifully produced, very well cast, and kept me guessing. I liked that fact that the moral issues weren't presented as black and white and people on both sides are shown exploiting situations for personal gain or revenge. I've watched dozens of movies about WWII, but none quite like this: none which seemed so real and yet so artistic, so full of surprises and yet so believable, and most of all, one with such a complex central character for whom I felt so much empathy in spite of his moments of cruelty. And I agree with one of the other reviewers that the climax of the movie is tremendous.

Well, well, well, what a wonderful surprise!

This movie was a journey into wartime survival. More than survival, being alive! Living. At great cost, at great risk, and with great "reward?". Beautiful at times, not "pretty". To the contrary. There's just enough joy, humanity, friendship, sex, laughter and perhaps love on the screen, to keep you from loosing all faith in mankind. At a time of such inhumanity.

Then and now.

The perfect time to see this movie?

Great performances by the way, especially Eryk Kulm. Deliciously sexy, angry, savage at times. Emotional, satisfying and powerful. Victor Meutelet and Caroline Hartig, really the entire ensemble did an incredible job. So glad we're able to see wonderful European movies on Netflix.

No. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. However for those who can appreciate other "perspectives" in life, cinema, storytelling, art and yes, history. Drink up! Loved it.

I don't usually go for foreign language films but I chose this movie as it had been filmed where I live in Torun, Poland. I'm so glad I decided to see it. It's a very well-made drama set in Frankfurt during WW2. The story focuses on the central character of Filip who is actually a Jewish Pole passing off to be a Frenchman. Despite being a Polish film the language is 80% German with some French and Polish thrown in. I highly recommend this film. It's thought-provoking and also riveting. It was also great to see my beloved Torun up on the big screen. It had been converted very well into 1940s Germany and it looked great.

Am rating this a 6/10 simply for the good cinematography.

If the idea is to show a lothario type character who go around seducing women but can't come to terms with the comparatively lucky position he is in compared to his fellow persecuted Jews, then the director simply got to find a good looking guy to make it believable!

Having women fawn over the odd weasel-ey looking bloke playing the main character is just silly-laughable. I guffawed quite a lot throughout with all these actresses having to pretend he's a sexy good looking hunk when he's totally not! Haha!!

Totally ruined the whole movie which in my mind is just a way to throw away some million$ to make a Naked Gun running gag. 😂