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Sophie's Choice | Year: 1982 Classification: Drama Actors/Actresses: - Kevin Kline - Meryl Streep - Peter Macnicol - Peter MacNicol - Alan J Pakula Simply amazing When I was assigned to watch an historical film for history class last year, I was less than thrilled. In fact, I dreaded having to sit through another hard-to-understand movie with very little real point. I decided on Sophie's Choice without knowing a thing about the film and I shudder to think what might have been had I chosen another video. Sophie's Choice gives us a look at the Holocaust from a different point of view. It doesn't just illustrate the horrors of the time; it shows us how these horrors affected survivors for their whole lives. After watching Sophie's Choice, I was stunned for days. The image of Sophie's daughter being taken to the gas chambers is impossible to shake. With its incredible cast including Kevin Kline, Peter McNichol and Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice is rare among films. It changes you. What is Evil? Caught forever in an existential moment, Meryl Streep's portrayal of the aftereffects of Auschwitz is transfixing. Sophie is the guilt-ridden survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, and Streep's remarkable work brings her leaping off the screen into the hearts and minds of the watcher. This is a complex film which plays the outer tragedy of Sophie's present life against the inner tragedy of the evil she faced during the war. As the story of Sophie's devastating past unfolds in flashbacks Streep faces choice after choice in her present life. Each seems to eat away at her life. Peter MacNicol and Kevin Kline unite to give performances that that carefully balance Streep's, creating an intense overall effect that cannot be described easily, The film's emotional and intellectual content make is a bit too lengthy and stagy, but the lulls set the stage for the emotional crises. This is a heart rending story that will not be everyone's cup of tea, but Streep well deserves the Academy Award she got for this film, which was also nominated for best screenplay and best cinematography. Agonizing - in more ways than one This movie is simply agonizing in more ways than one. First, the bad. This movie is very lengthy - 2 hours and 30 minutes, and let me tell you, I could feel each and every minute sloooowly tick by. The story moves slowly as well, and it's hard to tell - what is real? What is false? Even when Sophie's "choice" is revealed at the end, are we, the audience, sure this is real or just a fabrication? As Sophie says somewhere in the movie, she has told so many lies it is hard to sort the truth from the falsehoods. The movie paints a portait of Stingo (Peter MacNicol, lately of Ally McBeal), a Southern writer who makes the acquaintance of Sophie and Nathan, his upstairs neighbors, and then can't get rid of them. Sophie's a Polish immigrant who has spent time in the concentration camps during WWII, while Nathan is a medical researcher obsessed with the evils of the Holocaust. Why did Sophie survive while so many others died? This is the question that haunts Nathan, and haunts Sophie, whose entire family was murdered in the concentration camps. Eventually, slowly, the s ideas seem appealing with his use of slow rhythms, dramatic pauses and glaring white light. Annette Bening's Caroline is the perfect shrew, but that tough exterior merely masks her insecurities (witness her brilliant emotional breakdown alone in the den of horrible house she fails to sale. Slapping herself and screaming "shut up you baby" before slipping back into her role as the domineering control freak is fascinating!) The lucious Thora Birch also turns what could have been a one-note character (Janie) into a tour-de-force of of teen angst and isolation. When she finally succumbs to the charms of the quiet,curious and supremely secure boy next door Ricky Fitts (the superb and commanding We n versions on DVD Buy Sophie's Choice at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Sophie's Choice Search with the Priority Search Engine on Sophie's Choice This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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