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Twin Sisters
RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £4.98 (subject to change)
Wonderful...
Review date: 2008-04-02 Rating: 10 out of 10
I bought this film on a wim (basically it was cheap!) and i'm so glad I did. To keep it short and sweet... it's a beautifully told and emotionally charged historic epic. It is now one of my all time favourite movies and I doubt any amount of indepth reviewing could do it justice. Go on treat yourself, for the price what have you got to lose?! I promise you won't be disappointed.
Word of warning: have tissues at the ready. I cried right through the credits and for a good half-hour after that!!
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Reviews
Bad timing, unrealistic, psychologically faulty - not recommendable
Review date: 2008-01-27 Rating: 6 out of 10
Twin sisters are separated as children. One ends up in Germany, the other in Holland. The "Dutch" one grows up in a loving bourgeois family, goes to university, can persue her hobbies and gets engaged. The other is physically abused by her German foster parents, has to work on a farm, cannot go to school and ends up working as a maid. When they meet again the German - due to lack of education and the influence Nazi propaganda - seems to believe that Jewish people are of a lower "race", whereas the Dutch has gotten engaged to a Jewish man. This creates tension. Throughout their lives they meet again a few times, a final time in old age. These meetings illustrate the relationship between the Dutch and the Germans during WW2 and raises questions such as: Can civilian Germans be held responsible for what happened during the Nazi times? How much are our choices and personality shaped by our environment and upbringing?
The film starts by showing the two girls playing with each other. They are obviously having a happy childhood and love each other. The director hammers this point for about 15-20 minutes into the audience's mind. Then two couples fight over the twin sisters and finally agree that each couple gets one of them. Instead of telling the children some made up story to make them part by agreement, they are physically torn away from each other with lots of screaming and crying. Highly unrealistic. And so it continues. The foster parents are portrayed entirely one-dimensional, their psychology pretty much remains a mystery. The Germans are portrayed as mean - no reasons given -, the Dutch are cultured on the surface, but continue to refer to the German couple as "barbarians" even before Hitler comes to power. Once the two get older the film gets better, more realistic and more interesting. Fortunately the acting was quite good, especially Nadja Uhl and Thekla Reuten kept my interest. All in all not recommendable though.
The best Dutch movie ever made
Review date: 2005-09-06 Rating: 10 out of 10
The title of my review should reflect my curiosity for this movie. This truly is a thought-inspiring gem of a movie!
This movie is after a Dutch best-selling book "De Tweeling" ("The Twins") by Tessa de Loo. Every serious Dutchman has read this book, and almost all Dutch appreciate this book. This movie, however, comes very close the quality of that book.
Two sisters (twins) are playing a leading role in this movie, Lotte and Anna. Due to the death of their parents, they are separated and adopted in different families. Lotte, although quite ill, is the luckier of the two, as she is taken in by distant family in the Netherlands, where she is lovingly nursed back to health. Anna, on the other hand, finds herself claimed by a harsh uncle and aunt to live and work on their farm in countryside Germany, where punishing treatment makes her existence miserable. Although in vastly different settings, both sisters are actively discouraged from contacting each other by letter, 'for their own good', we are told. Mercifully, Anna is eventually rescued from her cruel guardians and put into a school - an experience she has only been able to dream of up to that time. We follow the two sisters as they mature, including the long-awaited first reunion, which is a happy moment. With the advent of World War II, however, they find themselves in opposite camps. Lotte's husband is Jewish and is deported to Auschwitz and killed. As a result, Lotte starts to intensely hate Germany and its people. Does that mean she will hate her twin sister too?
The interesting part of this movie is that it does not only describe the lives of two twin sisters, but that it also seems to describe the relationship between two populations: the Dutch and the Germans. These are two populations that have much in common, as they are from neighboring countries, yet they struggle with a feeling of hatred against each other - largely the result of World War II.
For those who are not Dutch: spark your curiosity and try out this film! You will not be disappointed! There is truly nothing negative I can say about this film, so I give it a full 10 points.
Grade: 10/10
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Nadja Uhl
Gudrun Okras
Ellen Vogel
Thekla Reuten
Creators:
Ellen Vogel (Primary Contributor)
Thekla Reuten (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Optimum Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Optimum Home Entertainment
EAN: 5060034572138
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2005-08-15
Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 131 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2002
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Original Language)
Language: German (Original Language)