Matylda Swan
It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
Pro Jury
*** May contain spoilers. *** A Jew escaping Germany and there is no sense of danger. No suspense. No drama. Very little to impress. Because most every moment is presented as if a Broadway stage play with low realism, it is difficult to take this movie all that seriously. Hats are thrown knowing that a stage hand will gather it for the next take. An undocumented war refugee enters deep into a private home without bothering to wait for the home owner to answer the door. People stand up together instantly in the middle of a song as if rehearsed. Fireworks and a large crowd comes quickly from nowhere for a surprise party. There must be better movies out there covering the same subject matter.
George Parker
"The Truce" chronicles the homeward bound odyssey of an Auschwicz survivor - Primo played by Turturro - in the chaos immediately following the fall of the Third Reich. Although Primo, an Italian Jew, is the central character, the camera spends more time on the people, places, and vicissitudes which he encounters on his journey from Krakow to Turin. This beautifully shot, somber film with an abundance of extras and a minimal core cast has no specific focus. The interest in this film is in the story and the story is in the telling. A very worthy cinematic endeavor.
ladwash
There are books and films. Two different ways of telling a story. Sometimes films are based on books. In that case one does good by not concentrating on the book and see the film as an independent work of art. Barthes already proclaimed 'the death of the writer', the discourse is not a message of the writer. But sometimes it's impossible to ignore the writers' work and his message. This is the case with one of this centuries' most important writers, Primo Levi. He didn't just write books, but was able to put in words his very own experiences in the German Lagers and this way put it in a much broader sense, he wrote history.Many years before, Rosi had succesfully filmed 'christ stopped at Eboli', which was also based on an autobiography (Carlo Levi, not related to Primo) of the fascist period. Rosi did well not to choose Primo Levi's 'if this is a man' (se questo e un uomo), which describes the unimaginable experiences of Levi in the German Lager, he chose what could be called its' 'sequel'. 'the truce' ('la tregua') in which Levi describes his journey home from the camp in Poland to Turin, Italy, which took him an absurd nine months.The film starts when killingfactory Auschwitz-Birkenau is liberated by the Russians and the survivors are freed and put in trains, not to go home directly, but to be send to other camps. From there the journey continues, by train, by foot, meeting various characters. Levi, played by John Torturro, is a silent man who now and then expresses wise words or memorable sentences, but somehow never really makes you think. It's a man we follow, but doesn't touch us, let alone move us. This is not Turturro's fault, he gives a fairly good performance, but Rosi wants too much tell an important story, forgetting the ones who ARE the story; namely the characters. None of them is very well worked out. Take the Greek Nahum, in the book a surpising, colourful person, here just one-dimensional. Symbolism is overly present; Levi who doesn't want to throw away his campjacket, 'to remember' is credible, but the survivors are faced with german prisoners twice and it's given an unconvincing weight, as one German throws himself on his knees, when he sees Levi and his yellow star of David, far too grotesque. Another unconvincing role is given to the music, it's overly present, even a violin is stolen (where Rosi had this idea from is very unclear??) for no good reason. Music should be on the background.I am sure Rosi had good intentions, but sometimes it's better to read and reread a book and try to reach as many people as possible in that way.**out of ***** If this is a man (se questo e un uomo)-primo Levi The truce (La tregua) - Primo levi The saved and the drowned (I sommersi e i salvati)-Primo levi
ecorno
This movie had nothing but promise. It was a very slow moving film and the dialect was extremely difficult to understand. I hate saying anything bad about it, seeing as if it deals with an incredible subject - it just moved too slowly for my vote to turtle above a 6.
