This 1989 drama penned by pre-Basic Instinct screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is a powerful tale of family identity and loyalty threatened by a ghost from the Third Reich. Jessica Lange stars as a Chicago criminal attorney whose beloved immigrant father (Armin Mueller-Stahl, in his American film debut) is accused of once having been a monstrous SS officer for Hitler. While Lange's character does a good job defending the old man in court against witnesses who charge him with numerous unspeakable acts, her own certainty that he is innocent slowly crumbles, leaving her with a horrifying personal dilemma. Directed by Costa-Gavras (Z), the film displays some of his distracting tendency toward unnecessarily broad storytelling, but Eszterhas's script is disciplined and moving, and Lange and Mueller-Stahl are stunning in their depiction of a loving relationship deeply shaken by history. --Tom Keogh

Customer Rating:
Summary: A Complex Exploration of Loyalties & Ethics
Comment: While the specific story is about Nazis, Jessica Lange's portrayal of a daughter struggling to maintain her high opinion of her father in the face of mounting dark evidence does justice to such a terrible dilemma. This is a truly remarkable, if disturbing, film.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC!
Comment: An exciting, nail biting, hearting breaking movie. One of Jessic Lange's best! A Must See!!!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Hollyweird gives itself a face job! [Three-and-a-half stars out of amazon's liberal five ratings]
Comment: In trying to make an Anti-Revisionist film,
the Hollyweird Establishment instead did a
number on itself with this Anti-anti-Revis-
ionist piece about an Amer-I-Can attorney
(Jessica Lange) who defends her innocent
Hungarian father against claims of the
'holacau$t' tm.

The films prattles on about the 'holacau$t',
tm, but comes to a proper ending. Too bad it
didn't work out so well for Frank Wallus, a
Pole, or Rad Artokovic. Any anti-communist
who came to this country after WWII ending
up being suspect to the Elizabeth Holtzman
jewi$h-NAZI OSI persecutors. Hollywood, here
and with Errol Morris fine Indie about the
Fall and Rise of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr., bas-
ically got MOST of it right...

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Awesome movie! Full of Plot Twists and Turns!
Comment: Great movie for a rainy Sunday Afternoon. If you are into old-fashioned mysteries, this is the movie for you

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Comment: The first time I saw this movie I first thought it was slow paced but loved the ending! Watching it over, there so much more to it and the scenery is awesome.

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