User Reviews

"Das ewige Lied" or "Silent Night" is a German/Austrian co-production from 1997, so this one will have its 20th anniversary next year. It is an award-winning German-language production and possibly the most known work by Bavarian filmmaker Franz Xaver Bogner. The cast includes a whole lot of experienced actors. The protagonist is played by Austrian actor Tobias Moretti (mostly known for Kommissar Rex back then) and you will also find Heio von Stetten, Erwin Steinhauer, Karl Merkatz and Michael Mendl in the list. German film buffs will certainly make a connection here with 2 or 3 of these. Anyway, the English title already vaguely gives away what the film is about, namely the song "Silent Night, Holy Night". I will not deny that I quite enjoyed the last 10 minutes of the movie, but I personally felt that it was really just these actually doing what the title suggests. Everything before is a tale on crime, faith, childhood, parenthood and other sub-plot. But it's really quantity over quality I must say. Despite solid acting from almost all the protagonists, they never really got me interested in all these plots at all. I totally wish this film had more focus as it was a missed opportunity for sure. With actual focus on the song in the title, I believe it could have become something extraordinary, but there were moments when it felt like a mafia movie and it just wasn't working at all. And you also need to take a look at the runtime. The acting and the last 10 minutes just aren't worth sitting through everything before that, which is over 100 minutes actually. Finally, it needs to be said that this is a small screen release in fact and I guess small screen movies in the 1990s may not have been on the level as they are sometimes at this point. But this is just a desperate attempt to justify the sub-par quality here. I do not recommend the watch and I can only repeat myself saying that the topic and story offered so much more than that got eventually delivered during these two hours.