343. Never Look Away (Werk ohne Autor); movie review

NEVER LOOK AWAY (WERK OHNE AUTOR)
Cert 15
189 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong sex, nudity, threat

When I lived in what was then West Germany during the early 1980s, the residual effect of the Second World War laid heavily on the air.
I was confronted by an elderly man on a bus spitting expletives about Tommies at me because I was reading the Daily Mirror.
Meanwhile, I remonstrated with a middle-aged man in a bar as he held court on why the world would have been better if the Nazis had won.
I knew that the fathers of my best friends fought but I still have little idea about their roles or beliefs.
Of course, everyone claimed that they knew nothing of atrocities.
In Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's Never Look Away, Professor Carl Seeband (Sebastian Koch) is trying to run away from his past.
He was a senior doctor in Dresden who sent the mentally ill away to be murdered at the command of the Nazis.
Spin a generation on and he is back in a position of authority while others have been persecuted for war crimes.
And then, his daughter (Paula Beer) falls in love with the brother (Tom Schilling) of one of his victims (Saskia Rosendahl).
Will he ever find out what her father has done? Does her father have any remorse? Or is everything better left however deep the scars run?
People in Northern Ireland, The Balkans and South Africa will also have had to conjure with these questions
However, at three hours, the sheer length of Never Look Away dilutes their potency.
It could have been cut by an hour and it would have been to its benefit rather than its detriment.
Henckel von Donnersmarck's movie is based on the early days in the career of famous German artist Gerhard Richter but without reading up on it, I would never have known.
Regardless, its actors are of the highest quality, its scenarios are riveting and I know that many a competition judge has loved it.
However, its length would have put off mainstream audiences

Reasons to watch: An intriguing take on the surviving Nazis and their victims
Reasons to avoid: Way too long

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? Gerhard Richter is now 89 and is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German artists and several of his works have set record prices at auction.

Final word. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: "I was looking to make a movie about human creativity. I’m always struggling to find a positive way to look at life and all the terrible things that happen to all of us. I think that art can help us with that challenge." Slant Magazine

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