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Movies / On DVD / The Ninth Day
The Ninth Day

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The Ninth Day (2005)

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Reviews Counted:34

Fresh:28

Rotten:6

Average Rating:7.1/10

Consensus: Fueled by tension-filled performances and dialogue, this Holocaust film brings up morally ambiguous, thought-provoking issues.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:May 27, 2005 Limited

Synopsis: Noted German director Volker Schlondorff's (THE TIN DRUM) highly compelling THE NINTH DAY provides a unique examination of historical events that took place during the Holocaust. Interned at the... Noted German director Volker Schlondorff's (THE TIN DRUM) highly compelling THE NINTH DAY provides a unique examination of historical events that took place during the Holocaust. Interned at the Dachau concentration camp near Munich in 1942 for anti-Nazi activities, Henri Kremer (Ulrich Matthes), an influential Luxembourg priest, endures terrible hardships along with thousands of his clergymen. Mysteriously, Kremer is released and sent back home to his family in Luxembourg for nine days. Upon his return, the local up-and-coming SS chief, Gebhardt (August Diehl) charges Kremer with a difficult assignment: convince the Bishop of Luxembourg to sign an agreement with the Nazis, thereby providing an integral link between Hitler in Berlin and the Pope in the Vatican. These scenes between the young, eager Gebhardt and the older, stoic Kremer simmer with friction and meaningful import. The great challenge is that the Bishop, like Kremer, opposes Nazi racial doctrine. Failure to execute within nine days means a return to Dachau for Kremer and the endangerment of the lives of his family and fellow clergyman at the camp. However, while success provides assured safety for all those people, it also would represent the ultimate corruption of his own faith. Based loosely on the memoirs of Jean Bernard, a real Catholic priest, THE NINTH DAY is a complex and thought-provoking film. [More]

Starring: Ulrich Matthes, August Diehl, Hilmar Thate, Bibiana Beglau

Starring: Ulrich Matthes, August Diehl, Hilmar Thate, Bibiana Beglau

Director: Volker Schlöndorff

Director: Volker Schlöndorff
Screenwriter: Volker Schlondorff, Eberhard Gorner, Andreas Pfluger
Producer: Juergen Haase
Studio: Kino International

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Release:

Nov 30, 1999

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Reviews for The Ninth Day

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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This powerful film celebrates individual acts of conscience in barbarous times.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/01/07
Erica Abeel
Erica Abeel
Film Journal International

Plays best as a dry exercise in historical doublespeak and rationalization.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
05/24/05
Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Ninth Day is far from perfect, but is still thought-provoking and intriguing, a film that can begin its own kind of debate.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
10/07/05
Marta Barber
Marta Barber
Miami Herald

It just feels like too much over too little.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
07/15/05
Michael Booth
Michael Booth
Denver Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Schlondorff's greatest tools in forging this character study is taste, balance, and a pro's inherent sense of dramatic construction.

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
06/18/05
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

The film's star ... is Diehl, who perfectly captures the banality of evil inherent in Nazism. Villains are great characters, and Diehl's Gebhardt is terrific.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
07/15/05
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

While the pacing is a bit slow, the story line is engrossing.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
06/16/05
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This film is powerful, concise, fully sustained.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
05/23/05
David Denby
David Denby
New Yorker
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Schlondorff draws a telling picture of the ravished moral landscape that kept the wheels of the Holocaust turning.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
07/15/05
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
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A thoughtfully written drama of ideas with vivid performances by August Diehl and Ulrich Matthes.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
07/07/05
Derek Elley
Derek Elley
Variety
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A grim meditation on faith and betrayal that focuses on a relatively obscure corner of Holocaust history: the fate of the Catholic clergy under the Third Reich.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
05/27/05
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Digs beyond rote charges of ecclesiastical complicity and counter-arguments to explore various levels of resistance and protest — and their consequences.

Full Review Source: Decent Films Guide | comment Comment
05/27/05
Steven D. Greydanus
Steven D. Greydanus
Decent Films Guide

An absorbing Holocaust drama that suggests the forces that drive us toward good or evil are constantly warring within all of us.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
06/16/05
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

A taut, dialogue-driven play that should be required viewing in college ethics classes.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
05/29/05
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

Dark and depressing as the film is, it is thrilling to watch Henri work through his moral qualms as he battles the smooth tongue of evil.

Full Review Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel | comment Comment
11/17/05
Laura Kelly
Laura Kelly
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The film’s effectiveness hinges almost entirely on the performance of Matthes.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
07/30/05
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

In the face of the Holocaust, a wrestling match over which man is the likelier Judas strikes me as a trivial pursuit.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
05/27/05
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This low-key, talky Holocaust drama doesn't try to pummel viewers with visuals of the Nazis' atrocities, but what is described in dialogue is tough enough.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
12/02/05
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

Impressively tackles the enduring dilemma inherent in dramatically depicting the enormous horror of the Nazi death camps, and meeting that challenge, oddly enough, in tacit admission of the very impossibility of that task.

Full Review Source: Long Island Press | comment Comment
05/24/07
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
Long Island Press

Credit a literate script and excellent performances by Ulrich Matthes -- tall and gaunt and wearing a wide-brimmed friar's hat -- as Kremer, and August Diehl as the Nazi bureaucrat and failed seminarian assigned to watch over the priest in Luxembourg.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/27/05
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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