 |
| Source: Imdb |
I was very excited about this
opulent drama about an 11th century Englishman travelling to Persia to become a doctor because the book is one of my all-time favourites. The acting was great. I loved Tom Payne as Rob Cole. He’s a fantastic actor and his
eyes are simply mesmerising. Also, Ben Kingsley was simply perfect as Ibn Sina.
No one else could have embodied this role like he did, with this level of gravitas, wisdom and intelligence. I'm really glad they got
him for the part! Everybody else was good, too.
The script, however – apart from being different from the books – left some things to be desired. For example, I understand that they can’t have everybody talking Arabic or Hebrew all the time and just display subtitles. The movie needs to be in English to be accessible – but they should at least have made it a point to show Rob learning to read Arabic script and speak both languages as part of his disguise. Furthermore, the act of learning two new languages would have been a nice way of showing just how dedicated this character is to his vision. The twists also could have been handled better. I thought that the story didn’t have enough “sharp edges” so to say. Things went down too smoothly.
What I also found odd was that the movie was 2 ½ hours long – which is a lot – and still spent more than half an hour on unimportant stuff in the beginning until the journey even got started. I’m surprised they could fit in all the rest in the remaining time. On top of that, the movie lacked tension. It would have benefited from being cut down by about 30-45 minutes. It was never boring, exactly, but it still felt quite long.
I was blown away by the overall quality of the entire production, particularly considering that it is not a Hollywood movie, but German. The sets and costumes looked expensive and where very detailed. Somebody clearly put a lot of money, time and love into them. I’m glad the film didn’t end up looking cheap. On the contrary: The visual quality was great. The lighting, the composition, the colours – just fantastic!
The score was great, too. All in all, a very good movie if you have the time to spare. In some places gripping, in others moving you to tears, and always offering more to look at than you can possibly take in during the allotted time.
Also, if you are anything of a reader, I strongly recommend you read the book! The film is lovely, but the book is just stellar.
The script, however – apart from being different from the books – left some things to be desired. For example, I understand that they can’t have everybody talking Arabic or Hebrew all the time and just display subtitles. The movie needs to be in English to be accessible – but they should at least have made it a point to show Rob learning to read Arabic script and speak both languages as part of his disguise. Furthermore, the act of learning two new languages would have been a nice way of showing just how dedicated this character is to his vision. The twists also could have been handled better. I thought that the story didn’t have enough “sharp edges” so to say. Things went down too smoothly.
What I also found odd was that the movie was 2 ½ hours long – which is a lot – and still spent more than half an hour on unimportant stuff in the beginning until the journey even got started. I’m surprised they could fit in all the rest in the remaining time. On top of that, the movie lacked tension. It would have benefited from being cut down by about 30-45 minutes. It was never boring, exactly, but it still felt quite long.
I was blown away by the overall quality of the entire production, particularly considering that it is not a Hollywood movie, but German. The sets and costumes looked expensive and where very detailed. Somebody clearly put a lot of money, time and love into them. I’m glad the film didn’t end up looking cheap. On the contrary: The visual quality was great. The lighting, the composition, the colours – just fantastic!
The score was great, too. All in all, a very good movie if you have the time to spare. In some places gripping, in others moving you to tears, and always offering more to look at than you can possibly take in during the allotted time.
Also, if you are anything of a reader, I strongly recommend you read the book! The film is lovely, but the book is just stellar.
Still: 4/5 as this does not become boring on the re-watch, either.
No comments:
Post a Comment