User Reviews

First of all, I have to say, that I am German like the director Lancelot von Naso and tired of the small „typical" German „talking heads movies". So I really was looking forward to this interesting Idea of placing a German action/road movie story in the post war Iraq setting. But first: it was hard to find a cinema to watch this movie on a 35mm copy, even it was two weeks after the release; so finally, I ended up sitting in a tiny basement theater and was viewing a DVD. And second: I have to admit that during the whole film, you feel that it's a low budget movie. But, on the other hand, considering the 1.7 mio Euro budget it's amazing who they managed to create that threatening 2004 Bagdad atmosphere in Morocco.

The story sounds like a classic: After the US-bombing of Falludscha the village is totally cut off of the rest of the country and the medical help is running out of equipment. An experienced but tired, morphium addict doctor, a young, very engaged female doctor, two buddy journalists and their local driver team up and risk their life to deliver medicine with a small bus from Bagdad. It could have been a very suspenseful odyssey thru the chaotic, vast country but the story never finds it's pace. The acting and writing sometimes changes from acceptable to awfully amateurish. And almost all characters are missing some development ... except for one of them, what makes the movie at least watchable and entertaining in the end.

Compared to other German movies (I rather leave out an international comparison) the editing and camera-work have some cool, cinematic approaches but it also has some negative similarities to other German movies; which is the lack of a certain, artistic style and point of view. It always seems that the filmmakers don't dare to use color correction, sound design and a deliberate visual concept. So everything from storytelling perspective to costume design and dramatic twists seems to be in the middle. It neither works as an action/adventure movie nor as a stylized, reduced, small character study.

But all in all, I appreciate the Idea and risky attempt this filmmakers brought to the screen an I hope there will be more daring German productions like this. I know how difficult this is.

"Waffenstillstand" or "Ceasefire" is a German/Swiss co-production from 2009 and the language here is German. Other languages are included too, but almost every version will have subtitles for these, especially the Arabic parts. The movie runs for slightly over 90 minutes and deals with the tough military situation in Falluja. Basically for the entire film, we follow a team of journalists, doctors etc. in this area, early on still in Germany as they prepare for their quest. They find out early about a ceasefire and decide to be the first there to make an impact in their respective professions. The director and one of the writers is Lancelot von Naso and this is probably his most known work still. And I can see why. Even I as somebody who does not usually enjoy films about war and military too much had a good time watching this. I also liked that the film succeeds in depicting the sceneries as bleak and devastating as they are and not going for unrealistic feel-good moments. On the contrary, they aren't even scared of going for unhappy endings and you will find no random romance plots in here. It is all about Iraq and the protagonists' professions. I thought that what made the film fairly interesting is that the main characters were written in an interesting way that still did not feel over-the-top or unauthentic. This especially refers to Habeck and Jaenicke, but Reuten and von Pufendorf held their own very well too. And Reuten is much more than great looks in here. I very much recommend this film to those with an interest in films that deal with the Middle East conflict, especially those who (like myself) prefer substantial character writing over military battle scenes. Plus, this one has a good soundtrack and it is an atmospheric watch all the time. Thumbs up! Go see it.