The Aftermath movie review

MOVIE TITLE: The Aftermath (2019) On Disc & Streaming June 25, 2019

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour, 48 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B-

IN A NUTSHELL: In the aftermath of World War II, an English military man and his wife share a large manor with a German widow and his daughter in devastated Hamburg. Directed by James Kent, this historical melodrama is based on a novel by Rhidian Brook.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Some German is spoken with and without subtitles.
Two sex scenes with a man’s naked buns and a topless woman.
Some profanity, including F-bombs.
You see a picture of Holocaust victims.
Several people die with images of blood.

THEMES:

Redemption, forgiveness
Betrayal
Love, lust
Judging others
Loss, grief

THINGS I LIKED:

Stunning aerial visuals in the very beginning.
It looks and feels like you have traveled back in time to a heartbreaking period of history. The sets are amazing and look truly authentic.
Keira Knightley has the luxury of playing a beautiful woman with lovely clothes in need of a forbidden romance. She used a body double for the nude scenes. She and Jason Clarke played husband and wife before in the movie Everest.
The clash of emotional wounds that each of the characters carries is interesting. Aren’t we all just wounded souls trying to find love?
We usually see movies that highlight the war, but not very many that explore what happened to the military leaders, their families, and the everyday people.
The music was beautiful.
I was surprised by the ending. It didn’t seem to make much sense for the characters, but I liked that it surprised me.
I’ve read a lot of reviews by critics and by “regular” audience members and thought it was interesting that so many criticized the film for trying to be two films: war/history and romance, saying a movie can’t do both. I disagree, look at THE SOUND OF MUSIC as an example. It was three movies in one: war/history, romance, and musical!

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

I really hate adultery. No marriage is perfect, but adultery won’t solve any problems. The movie is well done, but I just hate watching people do stupid, selfish things. The lust factor was extremely high with no flirting or romance or substance leading up to…
Maybe if the father spent more time helping his daughter instead of schtooping someone else’s wife, the daughter could have healed faster and made better decisions.
There are a lot of clichés from every other period romance drama you’ve ever seen.
It evolves slowly. I noticed that some reviewers said, “Nothing really happens.”
SPOILER: We’re supposed to believe that Stefan Lupert is such a respectable man, but he lacked some serious integrity.

FUNNY LINES:

None. This is a very serious drama.

INTERESTING LINES:

“This isn’t how it was supposed to be.” – Rachael Morgan (Keira Knightley)

“None of this is how it was supposed to be, yet here we are.” – Lewis Morgan (Jason Clarke)

“Do you really need a philosophy to make something comfortable?” – Rachael

“Behind every object there is a philosophy, isn’t it?” – Stefan Lupert (Alexander Skarsgard)

“I don’t think you can judge a person by his answers to a questionnaire.” – Lewis “How do you judge him?” – Captain Thompson (Joseph Arkley) “You look him in the eye.” – Lewis
“This is the zero hour. Everything can start again.” – Stefan Lupert
“It’s not the war that makes men of us.” – Lewis Morgan

OTHER MOVIES LIKE THIS YOU MIGHT ENJOY:

The Book Thief