Iron Cross

BEAUTIFUL BLUE EYES - review

You'd be forgiven for expecting a revenge thriller about the Holocaust to have been a fully exhausted, predictable and an over-exposed subject by now. However, Beautiful Blue Eyes, directed by Joshua Newton, breaks the mold.

It is the last ever film of Roy Scheider, in which he plays a retired NYPD cop who visits his estranged son, living in Germany. The story explores the lack of trust between father and son, at first somewhat tensely and the viewer remains just the observer. But with flashbacks to the horror of Nazi-occupied Poland, we are soon fully immersed in the family's tragic history, the unreasonableness of Jew hatred and the futility of war. The main character, Joseph witnesses such cruelty and injustice that no wonder he seeks revenge when he suspects he has found the perpetrator of that injustice, years later. Do not expect the predictable. There is a twist to keep you guessing.

The character of Joseph, played by Roy Scheider, is loosely based on Joshua Newton's father, Bruno Newton. Bruno died during the filming of the movie from the same disease that took Roy Scheider's life nine months later. Originally intended for released in 2009, this new edit of the film, titled Beautiful Blue Eyes, has been made for theatrical release in 2022.