Burial

I have visited Germany several times since my youth, and my first journey there was back in 1992. This was just a few years after the Berlin wall have fallen, so you could sense that people were happy again. On my second journey to Germany in 1998, i did get to experience German culture on a completely different level than my first journey there. I did do a drunk visit to Germany in 2001, but it was only for shopping and buying alcohol. Since i have always been fascinated about World War II, i decided it was time to learn more about the history surrounding World War II. So in the spring of 2013 i travelled to Berlin to do a historical journey around the city. There was so much to learn about the war, and so many places to visit. I was only there for almost a week, but i managed to see quite a lot. There was especially one location where i felt emotional, and that was when i walked around Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Knowing that millions of Jewish people were killed during the war, it is important that we never forget what happened. So if you really want to find out more information about World War II, i suggest you do the same and visit Berlin. Speaking of World War II, one of my favourite films that tells the story from this time period, is the German film Downfall from 2004. Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel ( who also directed the well made World War II film 13 Minutes from 2015, well worth watching ), Downfall give us the most personal portrait of Adof Hitler than any other film so far, and German actor Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler is absolutely brilliant in his role. I have no doubt saying this is the most powerful performance i have ever seen from an actor, doing a portray of a historical dictator. Not only is the acting in this film really powerful, but the story surrounding his final days is filled with very emotional scenes. If you have not seen Downfall, i suggest you pick up the 2 DVD disc from the UK, and you get some nice special features included. I try and check out films that takes on different stories from World War II, no matter if they are based on true events or just borrow ideas from different time periods. One of the films i have been very excited about since i watched the trailer, is an independent film called Burial. The plot seemed to tell a different story about Adolf Hitler than we have seen before, so that alone made this film interesting. I finally got a chance to see this film, so is Burial one of the films you need to see before this year ends, or is it nowhere near as good as i was hoping it would be?

A small group of Russian soldiers are ordered to transport the dead body of Adold Hitler to Stalin in Russia. On their journey to their destination, they are forced to face some unexpected problems.

I think the best way to enter a film like Burial is to know that this is not supposed to be a World War II film that´s exactly the same story that we have seen so many times before. This film actually tries to take a different path, and that is especially one detail i think Burial should be respected for. Anyone who is willing to tell a story that does not look similar to others, will always be appreciated. I might as well talk about the negative part of this film early in this review. This film have certain scenes that feels very slow, where some of the actors deliver dialogue without a lot of emotions. I understand that this is probably a way to get us into the characters on a deeper level, but without any emotional dialogue in certain scenes, it feels hard to feel interested in their personalities. I realise that this film is on a limited budget, but some of the battle scenes between soldiers are not very effective. There are some scenes where they do find the right tone for this time period, but not as powerful as i was hoping for. To the positive though, i have to say actress Charlotte Vega ( who you might recognize from the 2021 remake of Wrong Turn ) as the character Brana. Not only is she a cool character, but i love to see that she is given so much space in this film as one of the main soldiers. Charlotte feel so natural in her role that you can actually buy that she is a trained soldier, and not just a woman in military clothes. Actor Barry Ward ( who you might recognize from the crime TV series Save Me ) deliver one of the better male performances as the character Tor. I do enjoy the mysterious atmosphere in the story surrounding the secret mission to hide the dead body that they are moving to a secret location. It gives the story some depth and a different twist than the ordinary war movie. Burial does have something interesting going for it, with a plot that actually stands out in this genre. If they only would have made more powerful battle scenes, i think this film would have been even better. Director Ben Parker ( who also directed the 2016 film The Chamber ) have definetely proved that you can do something different with a war movie, and Burial feels like a fresh wind in a genre that need´s to take more chances. Definetely worth checking out, but do not expect a war horror film, this is definetely a completely different approach on World War II.

Rating: DDD