The Good German - John Grant

This movie is set in Berlin just prior to the Potsdam Peace Conference immediately after World War 2. The genre of the film is that of the American private detective action drama. The makers of the film used the techniques of 40 years ago to give the look and feel of the time. Filmed in black and white with a square screen presentation, you really could imagine yourself in an old cinema with the tobacco smoke rising up from the audience (perish the thought these days). The set is the ruins of old Berlin, overflowing with lost innocence and without hope.
The story centres around the work done by German scientists to produce missiles and the race to take these scientists to the United States at all costs. The issue is seen as of monumental significance to the security of the West especially when set against the news of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Contrasting the issue of national security is a moral dilemma, one of the scientists needed by the West was a war criminal, in fact a mass murderer. Predictably officials in high places are persuaded to relinquish moral obligation for national priorities and a conspiracy is formed which aims at eliminating those who would make public the real character of the scientist sought by the West. The scientists former aide an SS officer is in hiding shielded by his wife. Their intent is to regain some of the integrity of the German people by disclosing what they know. Personally the wife, Lena Brandt (played by Cate Blanchett), also seeks to somehow absolve herself from betraying twelve Jews to the Gestapo.

The storyline follows the activities of a US Army correspondent Jake Geismer, played by George Clooney, who coincidently (or is it) has previously been Lena Brandt's lover. Jake is manipulated along the way by his driver Tully until Tully is murdered. The film closes as Lena's husband is discovered and killed by the US army and she is able herself to emigrate to America. In a final dramatic scene Lena confesses to Jake her complicity in betraying the twelve Jews.
An excellent portrayal of the time and as usual a first rate performances by Cate Blanchett (Lena Brandt), George Clooney(Jake Geismer) and Tobey Maguire (Tully, Jake's driver). Not everybody's taste (the critics gave it a panning) and certainly you have to appreciate the black and white presentation, for me an 8 out of 10 - well worth watching but unnecessarily explicit in parts.

Rating: 8/10