DVD reviews
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"A willing suspension of disbelief should get most viewers across the line."
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The Airlift (DVD)
Year: 2005
Rating: M
Director: Dror Zahavi
Cast: Heino Ferch, Ulrich Tukur, Bettina Zimmermann
Release Date: June 29, 2011
Distributor: Eagle Entertainment
The Film: 2.0
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5“...extremely underwhelming...”
Set in post-WW2 Berlin, the two-part drama, The Airlift, encapsulates a sweeping love story between a German woman and an American soldier. After her husband, Axel (Ulrich Tukur) is declared dead, Luise (Bettina Zimmermann) must fend for her 12-year old son, and finds work as an airport waitress. A chance encounter with an American soldier, General William Turner (Heino Ferch), leads her to take a job as part of the Berlin airlift (which ensured supplies for German citizens during Stalin's land blockade), and love, predictably, blossoms. However, complications inevitably arise as Luise's dead husband returns, and she is forced to choose between her duty to her family and her forbidden love affair.
Though The Airlift promotes itself as an epic love story, it's really the historical events of post-war Berlin, Stalin's oppression, and the epic Berlin Airlifts that should have been given prominence. The snippets of history are far more fascinating than the unfolding love triangle. Unfortunately, the film opts for the latter over the former, with little success. The two crucial factors for an engaging love story - the characters and story - are both underdeveloped. Coupled with mediocre acting and a languid pace, The Airlift is an extremely underwhelming film.
