euphony-01389

The reviews for this film are mostly negative, complaining about the move being strange. All I can say is, have you never read a fairytale? Not everything has to make sense for it to be true. I spent most of the movie with a broad grin on my face. It's genuine, warm, and so so happy. Yes, God sings Whitney Houston songs in the movie. And you know what? It feels right. It feels completely, wholly, joyfully right.

It could have easily been dehumanizing and dark, since it deals with very grim topics-war, suspicion, paranoia, misinformation, xenophobia, the tendency of people to turn minor events into causes for war. Yet, although it is honest about these things, and deals with them quite openly and humorously, it never becomes depressing or grim. It remains warm, even charming, and steadfast in its insistence that people-despite their many flaws and bad points-are people, with good points and even little sparks of kindness and occasional mercy and love and heroism. It's not some feel-good sentimental flick, or a cheesy bit of war-time heroism, it's a very funny movie about real people, doing the kinds of things that real people do. And it doesn't just appeal to people who lived in that era, either. I'm 20 and I enjoyed it every bit as much as my 60-year old mother. The only slight flaw was the love story, which was a minor side plot. The characterization of the female love interest seemed a bit shallow, and at times the dialogue and acting of the two people involved in it was a bit thin, but it didn't detract much from the rest movie, which as a whole did have good acting, especially from Alan Arkin. Overall, it was one of the few movies which became, for me, an instant favorite, and I look forward eagerly to when it has faded just enough from my memory that I can watch it again-and then again, and again.