About a truly heroic real life figure who deserves to be celebrated. Unfortunately, it was let down by some amateurish performances among the supporting cast. But seeing a person's integrity overcome all obstacles is inspiring nevertheless.

This is all Damian Chapa's film, both for the script, the cinematography and the direction. In all three capacities, it's an outstanding film deserving only credits. There are some flaws,however.

The story in itself warrants a masterpiece, the ordeals of the first world war when he loses a leg, the persecution by the Nazis in the second, and so forth. It's impossible to make a flawed film out of such a story, adorned all the way by his one comfort in playing the violin.

To this comes the remarkable cinematography. Especially in the first part, as long as it is all black and white, the cinematography is a marvel throughout. The effect when it changes to coiour, when for the first time the Jewish question is introduced, is striking, to say the least.

The one thing that makes the film miss one point, is the exaggerated direction, tending to make the actors overact. It's unnecessary and must produce the opposite effect to the one intended. Over-dramatization is always a mistake, striking hard instead of concentrating on the target.

So the film is a bit overdone. It would have gained in being half an hour shorter, with a more efficient flow in the direction and story-telling. Transport stretches are always a nuisance,, especially in Wagner operas.

You can tell that the actors and individuals involved with this movie meant well. It appears to me to be largely accurate. It is of course not a biopic but is instead a fictionalization. Some of the locations no longer exist so they did the best they can. I assume they probably filmed in the Czech Republic because in some cases those places have similar architecture from the time.

Some of it was filmed in Munich. I lived in Munich. I saw these places. They would be very difficult to film in because they're very close together - especially in Munich. But the dialog was bit forced in English. The choice was made to have the actors (some of whom were US American) speak in English with German accents and using German phrasing. This is a common tactic. Unfortunately I think Darryl Hannah in particular it didn't work well. I felt sorry for Stacy Keach. He did his best. He doesn't speak German so he didn't try. The Germans mostly didn't make the effort to affect an accent.

The facts were a bit muddled but they did their best. It was a tiny bit slow. The production was not the best quality.

But the effort was there. The people meant well and I enjoyed learning more about father Mayer. It's sad but worth seeing.