Fateless (2005)

10 out of 12 people found the following review helpful:

Good film

drummerh from Greater Manchester, 29th August, 2006

Whether or not you enjoy this film will possibly depend on how much the subject matter appeals to you. It's pretty much just a dark tale of a young man's survival in various situations through the holocaust and beyond, which in itself is nothing new, but this (despite being in Hungarian) has at least been put togther thoughtfully. If nothing else it sets the scene without being gratuitously graphic, and is well worth a look.

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7 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

A Different Take on the Holocaust

A Customer from England, 30th August, 2006

Based on an autobiographical novel of the Hungarian Nobel Laureate Imre Kertesz, this film is a moving account of the Holocaust seen through the eyes of a 14-year old Jewish boy from Budapest taken to concentration camps (Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buchenwald, Zeitz). Featuring first-class performances, its approach to events is poetical and emotional rather than historical, displaying very surprising dimensions hidden in the horror. The Special Features includes an interview with Kertesz, who emphasises the important point that Fateless is not a historical film, but be warned that this interview is extremely poorly translated.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Life isn't beautiful

barbi from , 29th September, 2006

If you think you've seen every possible view of the Holocaust, and you haven't seen this film, then you're wrong. Thanks to a stunning performance from Marcell Nagy in the lead role of Gyorgy, kidnapped from a bus on his way to work and shipped off to Auschwitz, you see the horror through his eyes. Filmed in short individual scenes, the style grated on me at first but in the end this worked very well. It was a film that didn't pull punches. In the interview on the extras, Imre Kertesz, writer of the original novel and of this screenplay, didn't pull punches either. His comments on Spielberg are well worth listening to, whether or not you agree with them - I don't, but I thought that he made some very good points. As remarked on in another review, the English translation of the interview is ... odd. I wouldn't say bad, you just have to try to rethink grammar a little. For the film itself, the translation flows very smoothly.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Makes Schindlers list look like a Soap Opera

tlahwright from from Carlisle, 14th September, 2006

This moving story of a young Jewsih man from Hungary trying to make sense as the world turns itself upside down. His wisdom and sense of perspective and friends keep him alive to see life and people in a new way.

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Must see

A Customer from Manchester, 25th December, 2008

Excellent film showing the huge struggle for survival of a Hungerian Jew. Shows the struggle against not just the Nazis but some of us so called countrymen.

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A film with a different slant

A Customer from Newark, 23rd November, 2008

If you think you have seen every aspect of the Jewish issue during the war you haven't until you have seen this---it makes you think!!!

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Good film

Paul Evans from Swansea, Wales, 4th October, 2008

This is a well put together film, very dark and very sad but worth a watch

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Give it a spin

Matters from from West Malling, Kent, 8th September, 2008

A different take on the horrors of concentration camps, seen through the eyes of a teenage boy. It deals with events in an almost mundane way, with no sensationalism, just a sad inevitability. It is beautifully filmed, with colours changing from warm, deep tones to practically monochromatic. The acting is superb, the only blip being Daniel Craig lumbered with an American accent. I suggest giving it a spin.

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