Filip

In 1961, the Polish author Leopold TYRMAND (1920-1985) published the semi-biographical novel "FILIP", which was recently finally translated into German by the Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt. Since Polish cinema has been on the rise for some time, it was only a matter of time before this extraordinary book was made into a film for the cinema.

With the last of his strength, the Polish Jew Filip (Eryk KULM) is able to escape the unbelievable murders in the Warsaw Ghetto. And what does this young man do, struggling to survive? Using false information, he went to Nazi Germany as a forced laborer. There he works as a waitress in a luxury hotel in Frankfurt am Main. What madness! Together with his friend Pierre (Victor MEUTELET), the attractive Filip doesn't let anything go wrong. The young men also offer sexual services for starving German women. On the contrary! Somehow Filip sees his attractive coldness towards the female sex as his personal revenge for the injustice he has suffered. He finds a like-minded person in the beautiful Blanka (EUROVISION star Zoe STRAUB). His dullness is only put to the test when he meets the young German Lisa (Caroline HARTIG). Soon the first bombs will fall on Frankfurt am Main...

This film impresses with its brilliant change of perspective. A Polish Jew puts himself in great danger in order to survive. This means you can finally see Nazi-era Germany from the perspective of people who knew how to use the system to their advantage in order to survive. The film was shot in Torun, Poland, which still bears a lot of resemblance to a city from the 1940s. The film can now find a worldwide audience on NETFLIX. You should definitely watch it in the original, where German, Yiddish and Polish are spoken.

The appearance of the Austrian actress and singer Zoe STRAUB is particularly beautiful. At the EUROVISION Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm, she competed for her home country Austria and achieved an excellent eighth place in the televoting. Zoe STRAUB is now a successful actress.

Very worth seeing film!

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.

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 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.

As A fan of war films, especially WW2, I sat down and gave this one a go, so glad I did.

This was a great story, always rooting for Filip against the evil Nazi regime.

Good solid film, with an excellent cast who all really dragged you into the movie until the last second.

WW2 movies years ago, there was a long list of really great movies, one after the other, some fiction and some True stories, but lately it's been slightly disappointing, so this hidden gem was a real delight.

It does have subtitles, but that doesn't bother me at all, but if you're not a fan of them. Just try and steer your way through.

Give it a go, you won't be disappointed.