Bomber (2009)

This gave me quite a few chuckles, its a bittersweet comedy with an interesting idea for a story. Following an 83 year old war veteran who returns to Germany to try and atone for the destruction he caused during WW II.The father has lived with terrible guilt after accidentally bombing a small town and now wants to make a formal apology. Along for the road trip is his son Ross who after a break-up and without any options is stuck back with his parents and driving the family camper van. Not fun for him but sure made me laugh.As expected nothing goes according to plan but it does bring the family together. I particularly enjoyed how this trip forced the mother to examine her marriage and you do feel sorry for the father, the guilt he must have faced. 03.13

Came across this DVD, and because I'm a very particular film watcher, I was hesitant to sit and start watching it unless it was going to be a good movie. Two of the "user" reviews on IMDb didn't seem to get the film, but the trailer looked like just my kind of movie.As it turned out, I was delighted by the movie from beginning to end. It is one of those movies where the little details in the editing and the music scoring and the acting are so well done. The best thing about this movie is the performances of the elderly parents. Those are EXPERT actors. They know just what they're doing, from their big moments to the little glances and expressions. The film moves along so briskly and easily, and it ultimately provides two monologues for the elderly husband and the wife characters near the end of the film that allow the two actors to truly demonstrate their expertise in their craft.Watching the extra behind the scenes portion of the DVD revealed that all that precise editing (so well done) and the excellent photography were all accomplished with a micro budget and barely any crew at all (really just four or five people). This film really goes to show how filmmakers who really know what they're doing can do a lot on a very small budget and make it all look so smooth.I thoroughly enjoyed "Bomber," especially the performances of Benjamin Whitrow and Eileen Nicholas. They were both delightful and amazing. The writing is superb, and the story is funny, touching, and easy to take. The script and the acting provide insights into human nature and its emotional potential. Glad I saw it.

I don't understand 1) why they characterize the son as a loser, or 2) why some reviewers comment on the father being too old. The father is a good 15-20 yrs older than the mum. The son is normally f*d up. But it's a normal f*d up family of 3. The son is clearly not a complete loser because he takes his folks on the trip after his dad crashes his own car. After huge disappointment with his girlfriend, the son has a temper tantrum. Silly, yes, but fits the dynamic of the family. Once they get to Germany, the son is just as much a part of the family as all of them. It's a story of a very touching journey by the Dad, and the mum and son are big participants. Get past it all. It's one of the most unusual road trip films I've seen. And quite lovely.

A story about guilt, loneliness and cross generational communication is (let's face it)... a recipe for success. An able cast and sufficient production values should have delivered an interesting film... but they didn't.A great idea was wasted because of poor visualisation, weak plot development and worst of all... thinking that clichéd portrayals of angst and irrational behaviour are in any way funny.Whoever came up with the idea that this story could be made as a comedy/drama deserves to be condemned to watch every film The Sun recommends ad infinitum.The denouement is excellent but almost completely unexplained and unexplored. The rest of the film is painfully wrenched from trying to tell too much of a story... while the actual story (untold), would have been enough to create a film with a marvellous story to tell.I hope this will get re-made one day. The story is too good to be wasted on this half hearted attempt.