At almost three hours this is probably the longest movie I’ve seen in years. I knew going in that it was long because the website said there would be an intermission; that almost never happens and in this case it didn’t either.

It is a very slow moving film with beautiful landscape and atmospheric shots. There are no subtitles but you can pretty much tell from the body language what might be being said. The dialogue, in English, is more about the thoughts of the actors rather than them speaking to each other, and a lot of it comes from letters they are reading and writing.

The story is about a man who refuses to serve in the German army and who refuses to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler. The outcome is apparent.

Something that really struck me though was the work the women, and a few men in the village, had to do to keep their farm intact and providing for the family – quite realistic I think.