The Good German (2006)

“They want me to decide who the ardent Nazis were. Truth is, it was the whole country. Nobody’s hands are clean.” – Bernie Teitel

Number of Times Seen – 1 (13 Apr 2021)

Brief Synopsis – An American officer in post World War II Germany, gets involved in a murder investigation involving his old girlfriend and his personal driver.

My Take on it – Intriguing idea that just doesn’t work well enough despite such a great cast.

The way that Steven Soderbergh chose to film this movie is quite fascinating especially given the fact that he tries to mimic the production of films of the 1940’s.

Unfortunately, this is far too detrimental to the story because things feel far too detached instead of making it seem nostalgic.

The cast is great with George Clooney, Tobey Maguire, Cate Blanchett and Beau Bridges all giving great performances, but the detached feeling of the look of the movie, makes it even harder to acre about the characters or anything that happens to them along the way.

The story is also told in a very strange way which makes the pacing feel far too slow which also hurts things too much.

All that being said, the look of the film is still quite impressive, even if the end result isn’t effective enough.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The film was shot as if it had been made in 1945. Only studio back lots, sets and local Los Angeles locations were used. No radio microphones were used, the film was lit with only incandescent lights and period lenses were used on the cameras. The actors were directed to perform in a presentational, stage style. The only allowance was the inclusion of nudity, violence and cursing which would have been forbidden by the Production Code. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)