A Sacrifice

Started out interesting, halfway through, it fizzles out altogether! I'm a bit disappointed. Eric Bana usually has better taste in the movies he decides to be in. I understand cults are stupid but couldn't they just pretend to be something believable? The premise of greed ruining our world and a common collective consciousness are doable and thought provoking but as soon as Eric's daughter gets taken the whole theory and their acting goes straight down the toilet. Do better guys you've got the ability, I just know it!

Ok, it says I need a few more words so maybe I should just keep talking about how stupid this is?

Most boring monotone movie in every aspect from script,dialog,cinematography,locations & attire.

Sadie may of did well in Stranger Things however,based on this & other performances I'm really not a fan.

Although the rest of the cast,even their acting was average to poor.

This topic of cults is beyond clichéd & has been done,so much better in the past.

I guess because it took place internationally it apparently was more unique,they could of used more locations or something.

Still got over 100 characters to go & frankly,there isn't anything else that is worth talking about.

Finally.. Watch is you need sleep!

Eric Bana and Sadie Sink sulk their way through Berlin Nobody, a drab cult thriller given the far less tantalizing title "A Sacrifice" for North American distribution. Bana is an American professor in Berlin working on a complicated thesis about cult mindset and dangerous groupthink, unaware that his teenage daughter (Sink) is slowly orbiting the very same deadly cult via a German boy (Jonas Dasser) she's started seeing. Bana is a brilliant actor who doesn't always choose the best scripts and this is unfortunately one of them, Stranger Things' talented Sink also falling into the same trap. They try to do honest character work but the writing lets them down hard, attempting some complex thematics regarding the cut angle that get left completely open ended like they just gave up in fully exploring their ideas and let the credits roll. Skip.

The movie touched on some cult recruitment practices and attempted to address the why people get sucked into groups with some slightly on the nose dialogue dressed up as academic banter.

Unfortunately I'm familiar having directly experienced a real cult and it's terrifying groupthink. The use of psychedelics is a cult trope but mostly not the case. Maybe the cult this was based on used them but that's a generally held misbeleif. It doesn't take much to suck the unguarded in. We're social animals and crave community and acceptance.

None the less it did expose some cult standards. Being made to feel special. Group acceptance. False dilemmas to instil fear and compliance. A sociopathic cult leader. Etc.

From a movie/narrative perspective the story was a little flat and one dimensional. A splash of colour should have spruced it up visually. Sub plots were thin and the twist foreshadowing tipped its hand.

Eric did a good job as did his co-stars but I had the feeling they weren't buying the dialogue here and there. Still it was watchable and there wasn't that feeling you'd just wasted two hours of your life.

I just wish it had that extra something.

Ultimately. The Story line here is how people get sucked into CULTS. Sophie Rois plays HILDA a Cult Leader in Berlin who uses the Environmental World coming to an End Card to recruit new members. She gives an Jim Jonesian performance, scared me almost as much as the Wicked Witch of the West from THE WIZARD OF OZ.

Father Daughter Ben and Mazzy are the victims set up by Martin and Nina. The Movies climax is a little far fetched but still effective. The Berlin setting and psychological underground Music scene are grinding. Directed by Jordan Scott of the SCOTT Family has the Closed Caption run thru out so you can read along too as in German some scenes. If you want to Experience the Cult sacrifices I recommend going to See for Yourself, but stay away from the Cyanide tablets and Magic Mushrooms on the way.. I am Fan of Eric Bana (The Dry) and really impressed with Sadie Sink from (The Whale) she shines.