Engrossing and timely, this crackles with ideas about art, politics, religion, and the terrible costs of war.
Comment
04/03/09
Theater of War (2008)
63 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 16
Fresh: 10
Rotten:6
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Theatrical Release:Dec 24, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: With this documentary, Meryl Streep for the first time allowed cameras to record her preparation for a role. The occasion was her lead stage performance in Bertolt Brecht's MOTHER COURAGE AND HER... [More]
Reviews for Theater of War
1 - 15 (sorted by date)
Top CriticFor theater lovers in general, this documentary -- a look at a high-powered production of a modern classic and a chance to watch Meryl Streep build a character -- is intriguing and educational. For partisans of Bertolt Brecht, it's mandatory.
04/03/09
Top CriticAll of this makes an interesting, if not gripping, film about the play, the playwright and the lead-up work to a stage production. It also leaves me wanting a great deal more.
04/02/09
Top CriticTheater of War, Walter's invigorating film, asserts the value of Brecht -- and the power of art -- for our troubled times.
03/26/09
Top CriticMildly engaging with brief moments of insight, but it's mostly a missed opportunity to dig deeper into the play's sociopolitical relevance to the world of today
01/31/09
As a onetime dramaturg and Brechtian, I enjoyed the chin-wags and the glimpses of Streep in rehearsal -- especially her quivering admission that she can’t bear the thought of anyone seeing her process.
12/29/08
Top CriticTheater of War, while informative, feels more like a trailer for Mother Courage than a film of its own.
12/29/08
Top CriticThough Theater Of War is informative -- both about Brecht and about the effort it takes to mount a big New York production -- Walter overreaches in trying to connect Brecht’s anti-war sentiment with contemporary protest movements.
12/29/08
A thought-provoking documentary about the life and work of Bertolt Brecht and the 2006 Public Theatre's presentation of Mother Courage and Her Children
12/24/08
In his inspired, inspiring essayistic documentary Theater of War the filmmaker John Walter jumps from art to history and politics and back again.
12/24/08
Top CriticMeryl Streep is absolutely the least interesting thing about this inventive doc that takes an unprecedented look at the staging of a high-profile theater production.
12/23/08
Neither Meryl Streep's as-yet-unpolished performance nor the entire construction of this particular production of Bertolt Brecht's celebrated play are done much favor by this doc's unedifying attempt to shoot the moon.
12/23/08
If you can't define "Brechtian," this documentary, ostensibly about the Public Theater's production of Mother Courage and Her Children, may elude you, yet the all-too-brief glimpses of Meryl Streep finding meaning in the play may make it all worthw
12/19/08
John W. Walter's stabs at tying the play's primal scream to a bigger picture, however, are too often reduced to sound bites (war is, y�know, bad), and his filmmaking can be downright clumsy.
12/17/08
[A] must-see docu for theater lovers could reach wider auds.
05/29/08
Top Critic1 - 15 (sorted by date)
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