Father (1990) User Reviews

Highly recommended.

[cturner-5 · 8/10 · 3 December 2007]

This is an excellent film which should not be overlooked. Two of my favorite actors, Max von Sydow and Carol Drinkwater, give superb performances. I have admired Sydow since I saw my first foreign film many years ago and I'm sure I am only one of thousands of American men who fell for Carol Drinkwater when she portrayed Helen Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small. (By now she is probably sick and tired of that association.) Perhaps the standout, however, is Julia Blake as the troubled Holocaust survivor. This film deals with an aspect of Nazism not commonly treated in American films, namely that it is possible, perhaps even common, for people who are evil in most important respects, to be absolutely charming in more superficial ones. What moral stance must one assume when faced with the real possibility that a loved one has done unspeakable things? Shakepeare wrote that "love is not love which alters when it alteration finds," but is this really so? Can someone truly love one person, any person, in any meaningful sense of the word and not love humanity as well? The previous commentator is mistaken; Carol Drinkwater plays the daughter, not Julia Blake.

Oh Father!

[videorama-759-859391 · 9/10 · 11 May 2021]

Forgiveness of the highest magnitude, sees suspected Nazi general (Von Sydow,- excellent), being tracked down by a surviving woman victim, (Blake, splendid as always) who's intent on making him culpable and brought to justice with the help of a journalist/reporter (Bell, another great actor). Of course, denying it many times over, with his family siding with him, we know what's to ensue- part a shocking tragedy. The most supportive, his daugther (Drinkwater-excellent). Father is real. A fine, solid, Australian drama, which plays out like real life It's opening scene, in the death pit, + music, featuring a sea of dead bodies, is haunting, and truly stayed with me. There's some surprise choices from some characters, later, towards the end of the peace, I liked. Father is a quality, select Aussie film, ones like this we don't see enough, pridefully made, with three great performances, Blake, it's standout. I can't believe the great Drinkwater only has thirty credits to her name, I really liked her in this, if only remembering her for another role, in All Creatures Great And Small. Father, wonderfully effective and engrossing viewing, demands your attention with it's great actors, and an important story, which must be addressed, fictional or not.