The Aftermath is a historical drama which premiered in 2019. The story is set in Germany shortly after the end of World War II.
The story begins in October 1945. From this point it moves forward month by month through the winter until the beginning of the following year. It ends in February or March 1946.
Most scenes are set in the city of Hamburg. But one short scene is set in a cottage in a German forest far from the big city.
Here is some basic information about this movie:
** Director: James Kent
** Writers: Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel
** Based on a book by Rhidian Brook
** Available on DVD and via Amazon Prime Video
** Run time: 108 minutes
The cast includes the following:
** Jason Clarke as Colonel Lewis Morgan – a British officer who is stationed in Germany
** Keira Knightley as Rachael Morgan – Lewis Morgan’s wife
** Alexander Skarsgård as Stefan Lubert – a German architect
** Flora Thiemann as Freda Lubert – Stefan’s teenage daughter
** Jannik Schümann as Albert – Freda’s friend
Rhidian Brook is a British writer who was born in Wales in 1964. His novel The Aftermath was published in 2013.
As stated above, this is a historical drama, this means a fictional story that is placed in a historical context.
In this case, the context is the time shortly after the end of the war in Europe. Nazi Germany has lost the war and the whole country has been occupied by the four great allies: the US, the UK and France in the west and the Soviet Union in the east.
Here is how the drama begins:
In October 1945, Rachael Morgan travels to Hamburg, Germany, to join her husband Colonel Lewis Morgan, who is stationed there. The British Army has found a place where they can stay: a large villa which was not damaged by the heavy allied bombing of the city during the war.
The owner of the house, Stefan Lubert, and his teenage daughter Freda are told they have to move out when the British officer and his wife are ready to move in.
But when the British couple learn that Stefan and his daughter will have to live in a refugee camp, they take pity on them and allow them to stay in the attic of the villa.
At first, Rachael and Stefan do not get along at all. The atmosphere is hostile. They regard each other as enemies, even though the war is over. Later on, things begin to change. Perhaps you can guess what will happen?
This is how the drama begins. At the moment, I will not say more than this. I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. But later on, I have to mention a few details in order to explain and justify my rating. Please stop reading now, if you do not wish to know these details.
What do reviewers say about this historical drama? Here are the results of three review aggregators:
27 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
51 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
43 percent = Meta (the critics)
60 percent = Meta (the audience)
63 percent = IMDb
When you look at Rotten Tomatoes and Meta, you can see that there is (in both cases) a gap between the professional critics and the general audience.
The critics are very negative; the audience is not so negative, but both groups offer a relative low rating.
On Amazon UK there are at the moment more than 500 ratings of this product, more than 80 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.2 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 84 percent.
What do I think?
In my opinion, the average rating on Amazon is too high. The lower ratings which are mentioned above are more appropriate.
Here is my opinion of this drama:
# 1. The cinematography is excellent
The visual aspect of the movie is impressive. Unfortunately, this is the only good thing I can say about this movie.
# 2. The casting is flawed
Lewis Morgan is a British officer. But Jason Clarke, the actor who plays this role, is from Australia!
Why not pick a British actor to play a British officer? How hard can it be?
Stefan Lubert is a German architect. But Alexander Skarsgård, the actor who plays this role, is from Sweden! Why not pick a German actor to play a German architect? How hard can it be?
Alexander Skarsgård speaks English with a German accent when he talks to Rachael and her husband. This is fine. He speaks German when he talks to his daughter Freda. But his German is not convincing. It is easy to understand why. He is not a native speaker. He is Swedish!
The two leading male characters are miscast. For this I blame the director.
# 3. The screenplay is flawed in several ways
(a) When Rachael and Stefan meet each other, there is no attraction at all. The atmosphere is hostile. They are enemies.
But after a while, things change and they begin a secret affair. How and why does this happen? There is absolutely no reason for this affair to begin. This crucial part of the story does not make any sense.
(b) Stefan Lubert’s villa was not damaged by the allied bombing. This is a miracle, because much of the city was destroyed. However, I can accept one miracle.
In the beginning of the drama, we are told that Stefan and his daughter will have to live in a refugee camp if they have to leave the villa. Later, we learn that he also owns a cottage in a forest far from the big city.
By a miracle, this cottage was not damaged by the war. Nor was it taken over by the British Army. This is a second miracle and this is one miracle too many.
Since Stefan owns a cottage, he and his daughter could have moved there when they had to leave the villa. Why is this cottage not mentioned in the beginning of the drama?
(c) Stefan and Rachael spend a night together in this cottage. But how do they get there? And how do they get back to the city? They have no car. There is no answer!
We never see them on the way to the cottage or on the way back to the city. We only see them inside the cottage. The mode of transportation is never explained. A serious flaw in the screenplay.
Conclusion
This drama is not great; it is not good. It is not even average. It is fatally flawed. This is why it deserves a rating of two stars (40 percent).
PS # 1. James Kent is the director of The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister (2010) and Testament of Youth (2014).
The former is much better than the latter.
PS # 2. Keira Knightley has appeared in several historical dramas, including the following:
** The Duchess (2008)
** Colette (2018)
** Official Secrets (2019)
The third movie is by far the best.
*****
The Aftermath
A historical novel
by Rhidian Brook
(2013)
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment