Tuesday, May 20, 2008
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
Obchod na korze / The Shop on Main Street (1965)
This Czechoslovakian film shows a guy who has very little going for him ending up with a giant moral dilemma. He can collaborate with the Nazis or save the life of an old jewish woman he has come to love. In either case he will lose.
This is a gut punch film which I saw when it came out.
It shows the beginnings of the holocaust in a way that Spielberg with all his bucks couldn't get on film.
It is simplicity itself and so the evil it depicts is very clear and present.
There are many layers of the film which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in its year and is an unprecedented 8.5 on the IMDb web site.
Not to be missed.
It stood up very well to the second viewing (40 years later).
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
