Canada, France, United Kingdom · 2003
Rated R · 2h 0m
Director Norman Jewison
Starring Michael Caine, Tilda Swinton, Jeremy Northam, Alan Bates
Genre Drama, Thriller
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The film is set in France in the 1990s, the French were defeated by the Germans early in World War II, an armistice was signed in 1940 which effectively split France into a German occupied part in the North and a semi-independent part in the south which became known as Vichy France. In reality the Vichy government was a puppet regime controlled by the Germans. Part of the agreement was that the Vichy Government would assist with the 'cleansing' of Jews from France. The Vichy government formed a police force called the Milice, who worked with the Germans...
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Caine puts all his formidable talent into pulling this off, but Jewison's directing and Roland Harwood's screenplay (based on Brian Moore's novel) provide a regrettably shaky foundation for him to build on.
A tolerable thriller.
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Films can't just sound good on paper; they have to be effective on the screen, and in that form, The Statement is disappointing.
The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt
Has the hallmarks of a top-notch Jewison production -- splendid performances, especially from leads Michael Caine, Tilda Swinton and Jeremy Northam, a pulse-quickening pace and production values that establish story and character within a distinct environment.
New York Post by Megan Lehmann
Overripe dialogue and a fevered score fail to inject any real tension, and the accentless English spoken throughout a film set entirely in France is ludicrous and jarring.
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Ends up second-guessing its own high-minded strivings, not trustful enough of its audience to be sophisticated about history and ethics, and not pulpy enough to keep us awake.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
If any actor could reveal the squirmy soul of a war criminal, it's Caine, so it feels like a cheat when The Statement gives him nothing to portray but self-condemnation.
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Peter Rainer
Seems tailor-made for an intelligent thriller in the Graham Greene mode, but in Jewison's hands, the dragnet that closes in on Brossard is lackadaisical, and the larger political overtones--especially concerning the complicity of the Catholic church in aiding Nazis--are spelled out over and over.
Lackluster pic fails both as suspense and as character study.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
As much as these wonderful actors invest their performances with psychological nuance, their efforts go mostly for naught in a movie that gives character development a distant back seat to the grinding mechanics of its formulaic plot.
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