Viewed: 17 February 2005
Directed by: Volker Schlöndorff
Listed in: Movies, Netflix

In Essays I’ve read about the film, the fine line it runs between war film and love story. It does balance on the edge between the two leaning more to the love story, though it might be a consequence of the war being fought. The war in the Latvia in 1919/20 seems to be a crazy mess, rouge German Armies fought the Red Army, who fought the White Russians and all three fought the Latvian Nationalists. As a result the war seems secondary to life at the ruined estate, Sophie tags alongside Erich as he patrols, a mission to Riga for supplies and intelligence seems more like a day-trip. In this quasi-war Sophie becomes embittered by Erich’s ambivalence and lashes out promiscuously with her houseful of soldiers. The film seems like the war within it, a little confusing with moments of action but mostly genteel.