
In World War II, the sanitation engineer and family man Kurt Gerstein is assigned by SS to be the Head of the Institute for Hygiene to purify the water for the German Army in the front. Later, he is invited to participate in termination of plagues in the concentration camps and he develops the lethal gas Zyklon-B. When he witnesses that the SS is killing Jews instead, he decides to denounce the genocide to the Pope to expose to the world and save the Jewish families. The idea... (Full plot summary below)
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In World War II, the sanitation engineer and family man Kurt Gerstein is assigned by SS to be the Head of the Institute for Hygiene to purify the water for the German Army in the front. Later, he is invited to participate in termination of plagues in the concentration camps and he develops the lethal gas Zyklon-B. When he witnesses that the SS is killing Jews instead, he decides to denounce the genocide to the Pope to expose to the world and save the Jewish families. The idealist Jesuit priest Riccardo Fontana from an influent Italian family gives his best efforts being the liaison of Gerstein and the leaders of the Vatican.
Leave your thoughts about Amen..
| Planet Sick-BoyJon PopickExtremely heavy-handed, almost comically repetitious, and way too long. |
| Chicago TribunePatrick Z. McGavinCosta-Gavras' powerful, awkward Amen is a dramatically uneven historical thriller. |
| Village VoiceJ. HobermanCosta-Gavras provides a post-war postscript to make clear that honesty is punished; cynicism survives. |
| RTÉ (Ireland)Harry GuerinA fascinating study of good, evil and the inaction dividing them. |
| New York ObserverRex ReedFlawed but unmistakably moving, Amen shines a flashlight on the darkest chapter in modern history. |
| Salt Lake TribuneSean P. MeansCosta-Gavras often shortchanges the story's inherent drama for talky and strident speechifying. |
| OregonianMarc MohanCosta-Gavras tells this heartbreaking tale of lost opportunity with an emotional restraint that makes it all the more powerful. |
| NewsdayGene SeymourCosta-Gavras' political thrillers used to jab and thrust with lethal efficiency. This one just pounds against a heavy bag, huffing and puffing all the way. |
| Old School ReviewsJohn A. Nesbitthis production fails to take cinematic advantage of its material |
| Boxoffice MagazineWade MajorEven flawed Costa-Gavras is generally worth watching, if for nothing more substantial than the painstaking care he gives to every facet of the filmmaking process. |