Manuel São Bento
October 22, 2026
Check out my full review @ https://www.manuelsbento.com/fatherland-2026-gorgeous-black-and-white-cant-bring-a-cold-story-to-life/ Rating: C FATHERLAND was my first Paweł Pawlikowski film, and it left me with mixed feelings. It’s one of the most beautifully shot movies of the year, with sculpture-like black-and-white images, and a sharp contrast between the two halves of a divided Germany. Sandra Hüller is excellent as the only character allowed to show anything beyond restraint. The story, though, kept me at arm’s length. Cold characters, repetitive galas and speeches that even the characters find meaningless, and very little context made it hard to care. So much so that even the much-praised ending didn’t move me the way it moved others.