Few filmmakers have successfully made a good political thriller in the modern age with the advent of a constantly updating pool of technology. Problems can be easily solved, created, reduced, or obscured using methods that involve certain brand names that will probably be irrelevant shortly afterwards.This film shows how clunky it can be with idiotic claims and techniques that even the most basically technically capable person can see through. This is only a small part of what's wrong with director Christoph Hochhausler's The Lies of the Victors, a film that comes with good intentions but it's just too clumsy with its parts in order to work. The convenience of a political thriller is that you can paint a picture of corruption while showing as little as possible. Most of the on screen action can be confined to talking or snooping, uncovering only small details. It's often a restrained and intelligent portion of the genre. Unfortunately, for The Lies of the Victors neither story is particularly interesting nor convincing.Two journalists, one a diabetic gambling womanizer (Florian David Fitz) and the other a plucky intern (Lillith Stangenberg), find themselves working together as her story of a man who committed suicide by jumping in a lion pit is connected to his investigation into army veterans who are forced into industrial waste jobs. The cast is generally solid, but the writing hardly gives them an opportunity to shine. Given such little information and development with the characters, it's difficult to invest or root for them. A lot of it feels like pseudo-science, but I don't know enough to dispute. Can toxic waste lead you to delusions that you can talk to big cats? I doubt it. The film takes itself too seriously to not find yourself bugged by it for the rest of the film.To its credit, it makes great use of fluid photography, gliding around characters in a cinematic way, even if their choices of wide angle lenses warp the edges of the frame a little too much. To its discredit, I haven't seen editing as bad as this in a long time. They are not Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter. You cannot go at this frenetic pace and hope to come out with a coherent outcome. There is no sense of rhythm and it completely loses you right away. The film is chewed up, spat out, and looks like a poor music video. It often cuts out the boring parts such as a character walking from one side of the room to another. Maybe they're just trying to cut down the runtime, but it wasn't worth the effort. Self-indulgent flourishes like using a clip of Humphrey Bogart to illustrate Hochhausler's message about the press for him doesn't help the film's case.This is a downbeat film complete with a bleak point about media manipulation and cynicism with political lobbyists. It's one that does quite resonate in certain ways if not chill to the bone like the film wants to while its execution leaves you cold instead. A true story may have been a better choice than making stuff up like this. 5/10
3 Reviews
Germany does cover-up / politics thriller - not a success
Horst_In_Translation14 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
"Die Lügen der Sieger" or "Lichtjahre" or "The Lies of the Victors" is a German/French co-production from 2014, so this film, which was by the way a theatrical release, not a television film, has its fifth anniversary this year and it was directed by Christoph Hochhäusler, who is also part of the writing duo in charge of the script here. Have seen some other stuff from Hochhäusler and I cannot say I am a fan at all. I mean he is not horrible, but there is nothing in his body of work that I have seen so far that would even get me remotely curious about this film here or anything he will make in the future. And he also is not that young anymore, so that I would say we just need to give him some time. By the way, Hochhäusler's co-writer here is Ulrich Peltzer and the two collaboared on another (rather forgettable) movie back in 2010 already (and won an award for that), so no surprise that Peltzer is on board here once again. But yeah, since then Peltzer has no other writing credit and to say I'd be particularly sad about that would be a massive lie. I think that was I was struggling with this film the most was really that you could see that they had so much ambition, they really tried to make it all look as if this was some deep and meaningful political crime thriller and actually they even pretend as if it is, bit it feels all so shallow, so uninspired, elaborated on so poorly that it is for me impossible to see the ourcome here as anything remotely creative even. There are many scenes where you could feel as if the filmmakers (i.e. Hochhäusler) were really full of themselves as if they were creating such meaningful depth and suspense, even if characters were just putting words and letters together. Or finding new ideas and approaches during actually shallow dialogues. Telling us that "trachea" is a better term then "throat" is not quality writing an the ironic thing really was that this is a film about writers and the difference they can make.
The movie runs for 110 minutes and the protagonist is played by lead actor Florian David Fitz, a star here in Germany for sure now, and this is one of his more serious works, unusually serious a bit almost as normally you see him next to Schweighöfer or there is at least a slightly lighter side to his characters and films. In general, I think it is nice to see him take these challenges and not just appear in movies that safely generate a big amount of money like those really unfunny films that are two thirds comedy and one third drama. Nonetheless, he should have declined the part because this film is not deep or meaningful or tense, but just utterly weak most of the time. This is the story of a journalist who comes across the story of a former soldier who commited suicide by jumping into a lion's enclosure at the zoo. What seemed initially just a way to help him be on his own and without his initially annoying new assistant quickly develops its own mentality as there proves to be far more behind this story than it initially seems. As a consequence, he runs into people sabotaging his work in all professions, even his own colleagues and superiors. The truth must out. But will it come out? Was it really just a suicide or what is behind these happenings. In the process of it all, the only one he can rely on is the aforementioned new assistant (played by Lilith Stangenberg, known from Wild and yes she is pretty stunning here too), so the two grow inevitably closer and eventually become a couple. Okay, that needs to be done in German films. There is literally always some kind of romance story line involved, but here it does not add too much. On the contrary, there are weak moment, for example the scene in the hotel when she says he is nice on the phone, then hangs up almost immediately afterwards. And the fictitious moment about the passion between them (while they were actually just talking) was also a prime example of how to mess up an initially at least not bad idea.
A bit of a shame the film lacks focus in the key area and key plot most of the time because in theory this could have been a pretty good movie in my opinion, something to get you on the edge of your seat, but the talent just isn't there. There are even hardly any only slightly memorable scenes for this one and the showy baity all-in ending that also did not feel too realistic cannot really make up for all the lengths before that. That lack of realism is a bit of a key problem here because this is the one area where they are really trying to make an impact. As a whole, the acting could have been better too, but that is also a development that you cannot really blame the actors for. Most of the supporting cast have so little impact and screen time that even Daniel Day-Lewis in their feet could not have made it work. Fitz seems rather lackluster from start to finish, even if that is his character's sobering approach, which does not help matters either. Stangenberg is better I think, but maybe that is just the hetero male inside me speaking. I can see why she was cast for Wild though after her turn here. Some great aura around her. But she is far away from a level where she could have made this into a good movie. Better moments are rare enough for sure and once they are there, they are gone really quickly again. I think that especially with some female cast members here like Lardi, Saleh and Potapenko (the latter two really stunning and Potapenko even a key actress in an Oscar-nominated film), Hochhäusler came extremely short in terms of how he wasted them. I mean I understand this is never even remotely an actors' movie, especially not away from the two leads, but with these people at his disposal, he should have gotten something more out of the entire project.
Many scenes that feel maybe remotely memorable feel only for the sake of it all too. For the absurdity and decadence. This may work with a 15-minute short film, but not with a full feature movie like this one we have here. Moments that are somewhat away from the ordinary, like a man laying on the ground and interacting with others, like men spoofing Hitler/Nazis, like Facebook references, like Potapenko's scene deep into the second half come off in a way where once again Hochhäusler pretended to be doing something meaningful, but the puzzle parts simply did not fit together. Same applies to the protagonist's one man army status (okay 1.5 if you count Stangenberg's character) and how he is wearing everyday clothes really because he is all substance and no style (in terms of suits and ties for example). This was especially painful because this film is the epitome of style over substance really. It lacks focus in almost every single scene really from beginning to end and it is such a disappointment. Also I cannot understand one bit, why this film received even some awards recognition. My rating (2/5) is still very much on the generous side. It is closer to a 1 than to a 3 and I could hardly be any further away from giving this one a positive recommendation. Overall, I am not too disappointed that this was Hochhäusler's most recent work, still is today as I am not impressed. The outcome is clearly a missed opportunity. I think this could have been way better with a more gifted writer and director in charge here. I think the cast was there and they had some potential for sure.
The way things actually turned out here, I can only say: Watch something else instead. Especially the supporting characters did almost nothing for me and they should have included fewer and given them better elaboration. Instead, we see them once and they are gone again and Fitz's character and Stangenberg's to a smaller extent instead throw around names constantly where you don't even remember who they are talking to because the introduction of said character was so brief and felt so insignificant. So yeah, this is definitely a movie where you will be totally lost if you don't pay attention for one minute or are briefly gone for a toilet break. This is not necesarily a negative criticism. It is what it is and while I don't think it is something to be proud of either, it is okay in terms of the challenge it presents. However, if you master that challenge and really pay constantly attention to a film that is closer to two hours than to 1.5 hours, then you must also be rewarded. And you definitely aren't here. You can see that from the failry low rating here on imdb, which in my opinion is still too high, but that you can see yourself of course from my rating too. The good news is there was no sequel because with the pretty abrupt ending you could think it might happen. Not sure if the quantity of viewers was too small for that to happen or if Hochhäusler wanted to focus on other stuff, but it didn't happen and probably won't in the future either. There was not one thing that resulted in the overall outcome here being really sub-par, but really a combination of all kinds of shortcomings, although you could maybe summarize them by saying that there are worlds between Hochhäusler's ambition here and his actual vision. Reminded me a bit of Dominik Graf at times and I am kinda worried many may see this as a compliment, but Graf is really also the epitome of a highly overrated filmmaker here in Germany who is all quantity over quality. Okay, enough now. In short: Don't watch, even if the title and where it was taken from are pretty cool. Also the writer there, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, is still alive at a really ancient age today. But his talent did not translate into this movie one bit. Don't be fooled by said title.
The movie runs for 110 minutes and the protagonist is played by lead actor Florian David Fitz, a star here in Germany for sure now, and this is one of his more serious works, unusually serious a bit almost as normally you see him next to Schweighöfer or there is at least a slightly lighter side to his characters and films. In general, I think it is nice to see him take these challenges and not just appear in movies that safely generate a big amount of money like those really unfunny films that are two thirds comedy and one third drama. Nonetheless, he should have declined the part because this film is not deep or meaningful or tense, but just utterly weak most of the time. This is the story of a journalist who comes across the story of a former soldier who commited suicide by jumping into a lion's enclosure at the zoo. What seemed initially just a way to help him be on his own and without his initially annoying new assistant quickly develops its own mentality as there proves to be far more behind this story than it initially seems. As a consequence, he runs into people sabotaging his work in all professions, even his own colleagues and superiors. The truth must out. But will it come out? Was it really just a suicide or what is behind these happenings. In the process of it all, the only one he can rely on is the aforementioned new assistant (played by Lilith Stangenberg, known from Wild and yes she is pretty stunning here too), so the two grow inevitably closer and eventually become a couple. Okay, that needs to be done in German films. There is literally always some kind of romance story line involved, but here it does not add too much. On the contrary, there are weak moment, for example the scene in the hotel when she says he is nice on the phone, then hangs up almost immediately afterwards. And the fictitious moment about the passion between them (while they were actually just talking) was also a prime example of how to mess up an initially at least not bad idea.
A bit of a shame the film lacks focus in the key area and key plot most of the time because in theory this could have been a pretty good movie in my opinion, something to get you on the edge of your seat, but the talent just isn't there. There are even hardly any only slightly memorable scenes for this one and the showy baity all-in ending that also did not feel too realistic cannot really make up for all the lengths before that. That lack of realism is a bit of a key problem here because this is the one area where they are really trying to make an impact. As a whole, the acting could have been better too, but that is also a development that you cannot really blame the actors for. Most of the supporting cast have so little impact and screen time that even Daniel Day-Lewis in their feet could not have made it work. Fitz seems rather lackluster from start to finish, even if that is his character's sobering approach, which does not help matters either. Stangenberg is better I think, but maybe that is just the hetero male inside me speaking. I can see why she was cast for Wild though after her turn here. Some great aura around her. But she is far away from a level where she could have made this into a good movie. Better moments are rare enough for sure and once they are there, they are gone really quickly again. I think that especially with some female cast members here like Lardi, Saleh and Potapenko (the latter two really stunning and Potapenko even a key actress in an Oscar-nominated film), Hochhäusler came extremely short in terms of how he wasted them. I mean I understand this is never even remotely an actors' movie, especially not away from the two leads, but with these people at his disposal, he should have gotten something more out of the entire project.
Many scenes that feel maybe remotely memorable feel only for the sake of it all too. For the absurdity and decadence. This may work with a 15-minute short film, but not with a full feature movie like this one we have here. Moments that are somewhat away from the ordinary, like a man laying on the ground and interacting with others, like men spoofing Hitler/Nazis, like Facebook references, like Potapenko's scene deep into the second half come off in a way where once again Hochhäusler pretended to be doing something meaningful, but the puzzle parts simply did not fit together. Same applies to the protagonist's one man army status (okay 1.5 if you count Stangenberg's character) and how he is wearing everyday clothes really because he is all substance and no style (in terms of suits and ties for example). This was especially painful because this film is the epitome of style over substance really. It lacks focus in almost every single scene really from beginning to end and it is such a disappointment. Also I cannot understand one bit, why this film received even some awards recognition. My rating (2/5) is still very much on the generous side. It is closer to a 1 than to a 3 and I could hardly be any further away from giving this one a positive recommendation. Overall, I am not too disappointed that this was Hochhäusler's most recent work, still is today as I am not impressed. The outcome is clearly a missed opportunity. I think this could have been way better with a more gifted writer and director in charge here. I think the cast was there and they had some potential for sure.
The way things actually turned out here, I can only say: Watch something else instead. Especially the supporting characters did almost nothing for me and they should have included fewer and given them better elaboration. Instead, we see them once and they are gone again and Fitz's character and Stangenberg's to a smaller extent instead throw around names constantly where you don't even remember who they are talking to because the introduction of said character was so brief and felt so insignificant. So yeah, this is definitely a movie where you will be totally lost if you don't pay attention for one minute or are briefly gone for a toilet break. This is not necesarily a negative criticism. It is what it is and while I don't think it is something to be proud of either, it is okay in terms of the challenge it presents. However, if you master that challenge and really pay constantly attention to a film that is closer to two hours than to 1.5 hours, then you must also be rewarded. And you definitely aren't here. You can see that from the failry low rating here on imdb, which in my opinion is still too high, but that you can see yourself of course from my rating too. The good news is there was no sequel because with the pretty abrupt ending you could think it might happen. Not sure if the quantity of viewers was too small for that to happen or if Hochhäusler wanted to focus on other stuff, but it didn't happen and probably won't in the future either. There was not one thing that resulted in the overall outcome here being really sub-par, but really a combination of all kinds of shortcomings, although you could maybe summarize them by saying that there are worlds between Hochhäusler's ambition here and his actual vision. Reminded me a bit of Dominik Graf at times and I am kinda worried many may see this as a compliment, but Graf is really also the epitome of a highly overrated filmmaker here in Germany who is all quantity over quality. Okay, enough now. In short: Don't watch, even if the title and where it was taken from are pretty cool. Also the writer there, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, is still alive at a really ancient age today. But his talent did not translate into this movie one bit. Don't be fooled by said title.
Boring
Wild-At-Heart8 January 2022
The film wants to be a political thriller with exciting twists and turns. Some even compare it to Costa Gavras' "Z" or other classics of the political thriller of the 60s and 70s. I can't relate to that. The sometimes quick cuts, sometimes drawn out scenes that don't add anything in terms of content are complemented by shapeless style and sometimes annoying music. Two hours of boredom. That's as good as anything. The actual story is thin and drags on endlessly for almost two hours.
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