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France, Germany, Romania · 2002
2h 12m
Director Costa-Gavras
Starring Ulrich Tukur, Mathieu Kassovitz, Ulrich Mühe, Michel Duchaussoy
Genre Drama, History
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Kurt Gerstein, a member of the Waffen-SS, is horrified to discover that the process he used to purify water for his troops served as a basis to kill people in gas chambers. Gerstein tries to inform Pope Pius XII about these atrocities with the help of Jesuit priest Riccardo Fontana.
The New York Times by Dana Stevens
In the end Amen is neither as moving nor as illuminating as it should be. It suffers especially when compared -- as is inevitable, given the closeness of their release dates -- with "The Pianist," Roman Polanski's movie about a Polish Jew during the Nazi occupation.
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
It's not every day that movies present a Teutonic character in SS uniform as an unambiguously moral hero, so enjoy this rarity. And the film.
Costa-Gavras provides a post-war postscript to make clear that honesty is punished; cynicism survives.
New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
Amen is propelled by a most dubious assumption -- Gerstein's belief that if the German people knew of the Holocaust, they'd stop it.
While Amen works as a history lesson, it's less effective as a thriller, since the outcome is sadly all too well-known.
Austin Chronicle by Marrit Ingman
Too bloodless to satisfy except as a political exercise.
San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
Unfortunately, structural flaws and a built-in lack of suspense keep it from being nearly as moving as it was intended to be.
Chicago Tribune by Patrick Z. McGavin
Costa-Gavras' powerful, awkward Amen is a dramatically uneven historical thriller.
The New Republic by Stanley Kauffmann
The picture as a whole lacks the energy and incisiveness --the sheer anger-- that have marked Costa-Gavras's best films. A pity, because it is a true Costa-Gavras subject.
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