The Statement (2003) Reviews

• Better than Critics Say

  gelman@attglobal.net2004-08-05

  "The Statement" deserves far better ratings than critics have given it. In the first place, it's NOT about an ex-Nazi in flight. It's about a French collaborator, the Vichy Government, France's failure to confront the role its officials -- some still in power -- played in the Holocaust, and the efforts of right wingers in the Catholic Church to shelter the collaborator. Michael Caine is superb in the leading role, and Tilda Swinton and Jeremy Northam are excellent as the judge and army colonel who are trying to bring him to justice while those who formerly hid him seek to execute him, blaming a non-existent group of Jewish vigilantes. The supporting cast, which includes the wonderful Charlotte Rampling in a minor role as the collaborator's undivorced wife, is also quite good. I don't see how anyone can complain that this movie "drags." While there are legitimate criticisms that could be made about unexplained motives, the action moves at the appropriate pace given the complexity of the story it is telling.

• divided loyalties, divided feelings

  chetley2004-05-13

  I rated this film a 7/10 - with some mixed feelings, because in many ways it was a downbeat film without any kind of neat "message" that would make me feel "a better person" for having seen it. But on second thought I realized that the finished film rather neatly reflects the moral complexity of Brian Moore's novel which it is based upon - and which Ronald Harwood's screenplay follows remarkably closely. Brian Moore is one of my favorite late 20th century authors, whose work has provided the basis for several other memorable films, most notably "Black Robe." He writes in a Graham Greene-esque mode, his characters often anguished or guilty Catholics or ex-Catholics who struggle to live morally in a degraded and corrupt world. Moore himself appears to have known much about divided loyalties and twentieth century alienation. Although identified as a Canadian author, Moore was born in Ulster - and actually lived most of his later life in California and the South of France. He was clearly fascinated by questions of faith, of good and evil - and he boldly tackled these themes in "The Statement." In France in the late 1980s and early 1990s there were several prominent cases of Vichy-era collaborators who were belatedly brought to justice by the French court system. Moore was clearly fascinated by the way in which leading members of the French governmental and bureaucratic system continued to hide unpleasant truths about their own pasts - and by the role of the Catholic Church in France in providing refuge and assistance to some individuals who had been involved in the persecution and round-up of Jews. Michael Caine deserves a great deal of credit for taking on the role of a reprehensible character who nonetheless retains his full humanity. There's never any question in the film about his guilt - he clearly took part in the brutal murder of Jews during wartime. (He's also quite mean to dogs.) And yet he is not without a sympathetic side. It's clear that he's manipulative, but it's also easy to see why many intelligent and devout people of faith would be willing to assist him in his attempt to live "underground" hiding from justice. Caine isn't a caricatured film villain - not like Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List" or John Malkovich in "Ripley's Game." But in a real sense, it's all the more disturbing that he seems like "just another innocuous old man." It was disappointing to me to see that fine performers Jeremy Northam and Tilda Swinton with so little to do in the film - other than looking bewildered as Caine's character continues to elude their grasp. On the other hand, it is quite enjoyable to watch their flirtatious glances with one another. There were many nice touches in the film showing the pleasures of French life - gourmet business lunches, for example, and the beautiful scenery of Provence. Even the supposedly seedy cafes look like they belong in a tourist brochure.

• Intriguing TV movie with all star cast who makes memorable performances

  ma-cortes2010-07-02

  After France fell to Germany in 1940 , the Vichy regime was set up under Marshal Petain . In 1943 , the Vichy government created a military force called Milice to carry out the Nazi occupiers . When the war was over many of those involved were prosecuted for war crimes . Some get away . A few rose to power . Pierre Brossard ( Michael Caine ) committed crimes against humanity and collaborated with Nazis in WWII . Today Pierre follows hidden by priests of Catholic Church that sheltered him during fifty years and is being protected by a strange sect called The Chevaliers of St. Marie . But a judge ( Tilda Swinton ) and a colonel ( Jeremy Northam ) are investigating his past . Meanwhile , a mysterious murderous ( Matt Craven) is pursuing Pierre to kill him . This TV movie produced by Canadian television in association with BBC packs suspense , mystery , thrills , action and is quite entertaining . Jewison cast some largely known actors as Michael Caine , his wife well played by Charlote Rampling , the starring duo as Tilda Swinton and Jeremy Northam , and a remarkable support cast as Ciaran Hinds as Inspector Pochon , Alan Bates as Bertier , Frank Finlay as the Comissaire and several others . Atmospheric musical score by Norman Corbeil and appropriate cinematography by Kevin Jewison , director's son . The motion picture is professionally produced and directed by Norman Jewison . He is a prestigious and veteran filmmaker, his greatest film is of course Jesus Christ Superstar . He considers The Hurricane (1999) the last in a trilogy of racial bigotry movies he's realized, the first two being In the Heat of the Night (1967) and A Soldier's Story (1984). The film terminates with an epilogue based on real events , that says the following : ¨At 5:00 am , on June 29, 1944, in Rilleux -La-Pape, France, seven Jews were executed ¨. The movie is dedicated to those seven men and the 77.000 other French Jews who perished under German occupation and the Vichy regime .

• A Faithful Adaption!

  griffic-22003-12-05

  I've read some people comment about how the characters in THE STATEMENT film should speak with French accents as the film is set in France. I have to tell you that nothing would be more distracting that a bunch of English actors using phony French accents for 2 hrs. The film would be ripped apart by the critics far worse than to go without the accents. That's why other French-set films like QUILLS and THE THREE MUSKETEERS have decided to use English accents. Intelligent movie-going audiences are supposed to be able to suspend their disbelief and assume early on that the characters are French, because the fact that they are French is, frankly, unimportant...The idea is for English speaking audiences to follow the plot and identify somewhat with the characters, and it's far easier to do that without the use of distractingly bad foreign accents. Besides, in reality the French don't speak English with French accents...they speak the French language! So unless you commit to allowing the actors to speak the actual language, the next best thing is to have them go with the actors' native language, especially since the filmakers are trying to appeal to English speaking audiences! I've also noticed a couple of people being quite critical of the moment when Caine's character kicks a dog. In fact, someone on this forum claims it was inspired by THE SOPRANOS. These people should understand that this film is based upon a novel written by Brian Moore and that dog-kicking scene is straight from the novel, written before that TV show. Frankly, I myself am stunned that they kept that in, but it shows you how committed screenwriter Ronald Harwood and director Norman Jewison were in staying faithful to the novel, and not trying to soften Caine's character too much, which impresses me tremendously! This brings me to another, more important point. Like the novel, nothing is black and white, but shades of gray. No character represents this like Pierre Brossard! He is a war criminal guilty of terrible atrocities, and still capable of vicious behavior, yet he's a human being with complex emotions like fear, sorrow and even warmth. Brossard behaves in ways that many of us would under the same circumstances, which separates him from such over-the-top, almost inhuman characters as Hannible Lecter or Bill the Butcher. He is, instead, one of life's true villains. The story probably won't end the way most will hope, and the characters won't behave the way most will expect. This is what makes the story so unique. And this is why I believe THE STATEMENT will be a film that will stand the test of time...much like Michael Caine's 1971 film GET CARTER, which received mixed reviews upon it's first release but has become a celebrated classic over the years! We should all be thankful that there are filmakers out there still willing to make intelligent films! I know I am!

• Kudos to Jewison for an important, intelligent film. Someone I know who hadn't been to the cinema in decades saw The Statement last week and has had his faith in film restored by this movie.

  de_rosa2003-12-30

  Kudos to Jewison for an important, intelligent film. Someone I know who hadn't been to the cinema in decades saw The Statement last week and has had his faith in film restored by this movie. I can't understand why newspaper critics focussed on the fact that French accents weren't used. I find that some directors, not this one, try to add in accents where they are not at all necessary. After all, the "real" characters merely spoke their language, and didn't have "foreign accents". As an English and French speaker, I find the use of accents in other films (that is, where the real character would not have spoken with a "foreign" accent, but in his or her own language) to be provincial at best and distracting at worst. The director is from Canada - as an intelligent person which we can assume he is based on his brilliant career, he would understand the importance of not adding in accents where they would not naturally have occurred.