Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Samiam3 Without doubt, there is a strong and complex tale to be woven out of the material. Unfortunately Norman Jewison's adaptation of Brian Moore's novel is a weaving job that leaves too many holes.Beginning in picturesque southern France, The Statement depicts a manhunt in for a Nazi who was sheltered by a crooked branch of the church. He may have accepted Jesus, but there is still a dark side to him. Right at the beginning of the movie, he has no hesitation to put a bullet in a cop that pulls him over on a country road. He has killer in his eyes at that moment, and then suddenly seems completely overcome with guilt and fear as he disposes of the body.From there, the film drags along with thinly written dialog, and no sense of character enlightenment. There is a half decent scene where the Nazi refugee confronts his wife, but otherwise, the script has nothing to show in him. He is less of an individual and more of a crude representation: the manipulated product of the church who believes that his soul will be saved though prayer.The feds and agents who are on his tail are even more one noted. To even call them characters would be a stretch. They are merely faces representing intelligence.As a director, Jewison has mailed this film in. He cannot even make the most of a European rooftop chase scene, like the one that ends the climax. The camera-work is as dull as the editing and the pacing. The Statement is a lack luster attempt to tackle a complicated subject.

blanche-2 Michael Caine plays a Frenchman, Pierre Broussard, who collaborated with the Nazis during the war in "The Statement" from 2002. He is now an old man and in hiding, using another name, as he was arrested after the war and managed to escape. He is accused of killing 7 Jews, and this is shown in flashback. Now he's been hunted by two groups: vigilantes who intend to execute him, and the law, led by a judge (Tilda Swinton) and her associate (Jeremy Northam) who seek justice.Broussard, a devout Catholic wanders from one Catholic abbey or monastery to another seeking refuge; he also receives money from yet another group, fellow collaborators, I think. When they find out he's being hunted, no one wants anything to do with him, and he winds up staying with his wife (Charlotte Rampling) who hates him. Then he's on the run again, in ill health and finding it more and more difficult to find people who will help him.Michael Caine is excellent in this role of a frightened, pathetic old man who is constantly praying and wants to die in a state of grace. His patron saint is St. Christopher - I'm not sure when the book this is based on was written, but I thought St. Christopher had been kind of defrocked or something. Wrong saint.Tilda Swinton and Jeremy Northam have supporting roles and not much to do in them. Alan Bates, Ciaran Hinds, and William Hutt are also part of the film. The scenery is beautiful.This movie could have been much better. First of all, it was a little confusing; secondly, there was a lot of talk about this Chevaliers group, but I don't think anyone ever came out and said what they were about. In the end, I felt like it was a superficial telling of this story.Someone here mentioned a newspaper review complained because no one in the film spoke with a French accent. This is mentioned in practically every movie set in another country by someone, but this is the first time I've heard a newspaper reviewer mention it. You don't need an accent; these people are speaking their own language, not English with an accent. How come no one questioned it in Ben Hur? Do theater-goers insist that Chekov be done with a Russian accent and that in A Doll's House the actors use Swedish accents? Is Hamlet performed with Danish accents? Why is this so hard to grasp that a newspaper reviewer would mention it? I'd love to know who they're hiring these days.Anyway, this movie was a lost opportunity by director Norman Jewison. It's just not as good as it could have been.

ma-cortes After France fell to Germany in 1940 , the Vichy regime was set up under Marshal Petain . In 1943 , the Vichy government created a military force called Milice to carry out the Nazi occupiers . When the war was over many of those involved were prosecuted for war crimes . Some get away . A few rose to power . Pierre Brossard ( Michael Caine ) committed crimes against humanity and collaborated with Nazis in WWII . Today Pierre follows hidden by priests of Catholic Church that sheltered him during fifty years and is being protected by a strange sect called The Chevaliers of St. Marie . But a judge ( Tilda Swinton ) and a colonel ( Jeremy Northam ) are investigating his past . Meanwhile , a mysterious murderous ( Matt Craven) is pursuing Pierre to kill him .This TV movie produced by Canadian television in association with BBC packs suspense , mystery , thrills , action and is quite entertaining . Jewison cast some largely known actors as Michael Caine , his wife well played by Charlote Rampling , the starring duo as Tilda Swinton and Jeremy Northam , and a remarkable support cast as Ciaran Hinds as Inspector Pochon , Alan Bates as Bertier , Frank Finlay as the Comissaire and several others . Atmospheric musical score by Norman Corbeil and appropriate cinematography by Kevin Jewison , director's son . The motion picture is professionally produced and directed by Norman Jewison . He is a prestigious and veteran filmmaker, his greatest film is of course Jesus Christ Superstar . He considers The Hurricane (1999) the last in a trilogy of racial bigotry movies he's realized, the first two being In the Heat of the Night (1967) and A Soldier's Story (1984).The film terminates with an epilogue based on real events , that says the following : ¨At 5:00 am , on June 29, 1944, in Rilleux -La-Pape, France, seven Jews were executed ¨. The movie is dedicated to those seven men and the 77.000 other French Jews who perished under German occupation and the Vichy regime .

robwealer There were a few concepts that are regularly delivered in thick spreads and contrivances by a cast, with the exception of Michael Caine, who are not up to the complexities of the subject matter. It actually looked like the actors themselves didn't really believe in what they were portraying and at odds internally with the ham handed, prejudicial and unreal aspects of the story ie. universal hypocrisy within the church and among ALL it's members, not an honest catholic to be found, all these people were sniveling hypocrites skulking around relying on the principle of absolution without remorse or recompense, atonement and it got a bit thick at times. There was a way to portray the seamier side of church behaviour and politics but this film didn't get it. It came off like a masturbatory exercise to be indulged by judgmental agnostics and atheists both on and off the screen and made to appeal to popularly held though not necessarily universally correct beliefs about religious organizations. Am not a church goer or a defender of catholicism by any means but this film got lost in popular mythology at the expense of the truth.