This movie is the first (and the last?) adaptation of Stefan Zweig's short story "Die schachnovelle". I read it and I studied it for my exams when I was in high school. But above all, I loved it so I was quite impatient to discover this movie. I watched it and I must say that I was disappointed. Not only is the short story a toned down and softened adaptation of Zweig's masterpiece but it's also a betrayal. For example, when Mr B... is prisoner of the Gestapo, he's succeeding in finding a book that deals with chess. In the movie, the Gestapo's leader's taking it from him and not on the short story. Moreover, Mr B... is appearing at the beginning of the movie whereas in the book, he's entering the plot in the middle. I also noticed that the subjects broached in the short story like Mr B...'s madness against chess or Nazis' goal to dehumanize their prisoners were more sketched out than showed and analyzed. On another hand, unlike Zweig, Gert Oswald doesn't succeed in recreating a choking and unhealthy atmosphere in the part where Mr B... is prisoner of the Nazis. Nevertheless, I thought that the actor who played Czentovic's role was quite convincing thanks to his physical appearance (Zweig is writing about his head "a farmer's fat head") and he's recreating perfectly his feelings: he's conceited, unpleasant even ridiculous and he's despising his adversaries during the chess game. But this positive side isn't sufficient enough to save the movie and I hope that there'll be another (better) adaptation of the short story.
Review of Brainwashed
