In Tranzit (2008)

This is supposedly based upon a true story. maybe the part that is true is that the Russians didn't have enough space for all their prisoners, and just dumped four dozen in a lightly staffed women's prison.Starring Thomas Kretschmann, who managed six roles in 2008 including Wanted and Valkyrie in addition to this one. Also featuring Vera Farmiga (The Departed), who only had four roles in 2008, including The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. She has a deal with the prison Commandant, played by John Malkovich, to protect her lover from being sent to the front. Also along is Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds, The Bourne Ultimatum, 2 Days in Paris, Joyeux Noël), always a welcome addition.It was definitely a dark and depressing film, made the more so by the constant snow. There are some SS Officers in the mix and Pavlov (Malkovich) is determined to root them out and hang them. He enlists Natalia (Farmiga) for this task. Malkovich was born for roles like this.It is strange the the women who hated the prisoners in the beginning for killing their families manage to find forgiveness at the end so they can have sex.It was the acting, not the script that made this worthwhile.

Not long after the end of the Second World War German POWs are brought to a Russian camp that is run by women. The women are suppose to weed out the officers. How the two groups eventually come together and some find love, is the story. Okay film is the sort of thing that in entertaining while its on, but if it didn't have a small role for John Malkovich probably wouldn't have found any sort of wide spread release. This isn't to say that the film isn't worth your time, it is if you think your inclined to the subject matter, but at the same time I don't think this is going to be something you remember. Here I am several hours after seeing it and the only two things I remember about it was, it wasn't bad and that maybe it was a bit too long. Your reaction maybe different.

IN TRANZIT is one of those forgotten films the viewer wants to love: an all but unknown bit of history based on a true story that offers a different insight into the universal damage inflicted upon all peoples by WW II. The problem with this production is the embarrassingly weak script by Natalia Portonova and Simon van der Borgh, the unfocused direction by Tom Roberts and the bumpy editing by Paul Carlin. Beautifully photographed by Sergei Astakhov in a manner that emphasizes the brutality of Russian winters, setting a perfect matrix for the drama, this film had potential, but even the isolated acting contributions of a few seasoned actors cannot hide the weak script and the annoying pacing. 1946 and a Russian Women's prisoner of war camp lays unused until it is determined by one evil Russian officer Pavlov (John Malkovich) that it will become a camp for German prisoners of war to ferret out occult members of the Nazi SS group that inflicted such agony on the Russians. The camp is run by a group of angry Russian women soldiers and one Russian physician Natalia (Vera Farmiga) who together with Citizen Zina (Natalie Press) represent the humanistic side of the suffering Russian victims of the German brutality. And so it is German men, including the handsome Max (Thomas Kretschmann) who shares a mutual attraction with Natalia and the enigmatic Klaus (Daniel Brühl) among others, versus the Russian women: role reversal and gender dominance changes create the drama. One key mute figure is Andrei (the brilliant Russian actor Yevgeni Mironov), the psychologically damaged husband of Natalia, who in many ways represents the tragedy of the entire WW II on mankind. How these two groups of people interact and survive the conditions imposed on them forms the story. Though Farmiga and Kretschmann, Press and Mironov overcome the awkward script in an attempt to suffuse this film with palpable tragedy, the result is a bumpy ride through the obvious pitfalls of amateur film-making. It could have been an important film, but is remains a minor though interesting insight as to the extended effects of war on people's psyches. Grady Harp

Yikes! Just watched it in Russian. Fortunately I speak enough Russian to understand the voice-over; wish they had kept it in the original English and just added Russian subtitles. Kretschmann, Bruhl, Farmiga and Press all give excellent performances; Evegeny Mironov does the most amazing "silent" performance since his Russian version of Kafka's "Metamorphosis". I have no doubt that anti-German sentiment was running high in 1946 in Leningrad; nevertheless, surely there was some hope or ray of sunshine in all the gloom. I am beginning to understand why this film was not marketed in America. Unless you lived through those times, or are a student of history, the subject matter of this film may not have much appeal. Still, for you history buffs out there, don't miss some fine acting in this film.