Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Aftermath

 

The Aftermath is a 2019 movie set in 1945 Hamburg Germany, five months after the Allies defeated the Germans. As some may know, after the war, the Allied powers divided Germany into zones with England getting the area around Hamburg, which happened to be the most destroyed portion of the country after Operation Ghamorra, which was a massive bombing operation that wiped out the city. The English army was then tasked with rebuilding the city and ferreting out what was left of the Nazi resistance. This meant that the British troops basically moved into the town, put the Germans in camps, and took over whatever houses and buildings that were still standing. 

The movie was directed by James Kent, produced by Ridley Scott, and stars Kiera Knightly as Rachael Morgan, the wife of a Colonel named Lewis Morgan (played by Jason Clarke) who is a part of the effort to rebuild the city. Alexander Skarsgard plays Stellan Lubert, a German architect who lives in a mansion with his teenage daughter Freda (played by Flora Thiemann) that the Morgans will be moving into. Lewis decided to let the Luberts stay in the house, much to the chagrin of Rachael, who hates the Germans because her eleven-year-old son, Michael, was killed during the blitz. She comes to learn that Stellan's wife was killed during the Allied bombing of Hamburg. The crux of the movie is about Racheal overcoming her hatred of Germans as she begins to fall for Stellan as her already strained relationship with her husband becomes even more strained as he becomes more distant. The plotline is equal parts historical drama and love story and also is heavy on the theme of letting go of hatred of the "other side". 

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. There are some digital effects in the movie that blend in seamlessly with the practical sets that were used. It is well-written and very well-acted. There are a handful of extras including about six minutes of deleted scenes that can be played with or without commentary by the director, a commentary track on the movie by James Kent, and an HBO first look segment that runs about twelve minutes, give or take. So, while there are not a ton of extras, what was included is good. 

Overall, the movie is very good. It runs about an hour and forty minutes (minus the credits) and never really seems to drag. The movie does have some adult content including some sexual content and nudity. It is a lower-budget movie for certain, but I would say it is somewhere between an independent film and a Hollywood blockbuster. So, if you are looking for a good drama, this is definitely worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: A Dangerous Method

 

A Dangerous Method is about the relationship between Carl Jung (played by Michael Fassbender), Sigmund Freud (played by Viggo Mortenson), and Sabina Spielrein (played by Kiera Knightly) and the birth of psychoanalysis. The "method" is the talking cure that Freud developed and Jung put into practice. One of the people Jung used the method on was Spielrein, who went from being his patient suffering from "hysteria", to his mistress, and then a colleague after Jung encouraged her to go to medical school after which she also became a psychiatrist and became a psychoanalyst. 

Many people may watch the movie just because of the joke about a particular scene made on an episode of Family Guy (and yes, that scene is quite something), but the movie is really quite good outside of that. Knightly really shines in her role as Spielrein, playing someone that goes from crazy and playing in the mud to being a doctor herself, but always seemingly on the edge of slipping back into hysteria. The movie also does a great job detailing the complicated relationship between Jung and Freud from their initial meeting to their eventual falling out. The movie spans a nine-year period of time in the 1900s that ends just before World War I begins. 

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the extras are fairly light. There is a commentary track on the film with the Director, David Cronenberg, which provides a lot of detail about the story and some about the filming process. Then there are a couple of short behind-the-scenes features. What was included was good, but not extensive. Although, I would not expect more bonus material from a lower-budget independent movie.

Overall, the movie is well-written and very well-acted. It is very much a period piece and tries to be an accurate historical drama. In fact, much of the script was put together based on the extensive correspondence between the real people that have been preserved over the years. So, if you are a fan of historical dramas, especially ones that are not massive blockbusters, this is definitely worth checking out.