The Poet (2007)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Crappy film

Admirable film.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The Poet is a drama film starring Colm Feore, Roy Scheider, Kim Coates and Daryl Hannah. It was written by Jack Crystal and directed by Damian Lee. It was released in the United States as Hearts of War.At the dawn of World War II, a rabbi's daughter and a disenchanted German soldier fall in love and are separated by the war. They struggle on a perilous journey to find one another.A young German officer and the daughter of a Rabbi find their blooming relationship threatened by the onset of World War II in director Damian Lee's emotional war romance. The setting is German occupied Poland, and Europe is finally feeling the full devastation of Hitler's might. German Officer Oskar and his Jewish girlfriend Rachel are deeply in love, but tragically torn apart by the violent village massacres that spread like a plague across the land. Convinced that she will never be reunited with her true love, expectant mother Rachel reluctantly marries respectable Jewish man Bernard, who longs to earn her love by raising her child as his own. Later, when Rachel and Oskar unexpectedly cross paths amidst the violence of the Russian front line, a sudden tragedy prompts one man to make the ultimate sacrifice.This account of the World War II star-crossed love between a rabbi's daughter and a war-hating officer wants very much to be taken seriously. Unfortunately,this proves impossible, since the script, casting and wartime atmosphere play as pure make-believe.Also,the audience is herded from cliché to unintentional farce to insult-to-its-intelligence movie that should have been thought carefully before made.

After reading some of the bad feedback from other reviews, I decided to watch it anyway. Unfortunately, they were all spot on. Its rather a shame too, as the it 'looked' quite authentic with some decent effort made towards costume and setting. Even the cinematography was at a decent standard. However, everything else was pretty bad, terrible even. The main thing that let it down was the bad script which led to some appalling dialogue and acting at times. Some scenes are laughable its that bad. The funniest scene been at 43 minutes when a boom mic appears in shot for about 10 seconds. I've given it a 3 simply for the mise en scene.

I watched this film after giving the good review on IMDb the benefit of the doubt. I have always been a fan of war films, but I have to say this particular one was a big disappointment.The acting is mostly hammy (especially that of the poet himself; who is a rather overtly sentimental German soldier) and small blunders (Like the boom mike dangling at the top of many frames) don't help.The story is very predictable and makes one wonder whether the whole WWII genre has been done to death.If you've read previous reviews and synopses, you would have already gathered that the main hook in the film is the union between the German soldier and the Rabbi's daughter. It barely gets beyond that. Watch only if you've got nothing better to watch.

I saw this movie at the Staten Island Film Festival. There were about 500 people in the audience. The filmmakers stayed after to answer questions which was cool.It is a compelling love story about a Jewish girl who falls in love with a German soldier in World War 2. The film also has plenty of action. Good battle scenes.Rachel and Oscar fall in love after he saves her life during a terrible snow storm. He saves her life again when Germans are attacking her Polish village and she and a Jewish boy are at gunpoint.Oscar sends the two off, instructing them to try to escape to Russia. Rachel travels to the Russian front line but is hunted by German soldiers at each and every turn. Oscar ultimately regrets his decision to send Rachel away and his mother, played by Daryl Hannah, convinces him to go find her. It culminates in an unpredictable and explosive ending.The film looks great. Roy Scheider, Colm Feore and Kim Coates round out a cast which includes good up and comers in Nina Dobrev, Jonathan Scarfe and Zachary Bennett. The leader of the Russian partisans, played by Lara Daans, is also a standout and arrives on the scene just when you think there's no more plot twists to be had.Overall, this is a very strong film that paces well, is beautifully shot, has interesting characters and should appeal to everybody.