Customer Reviews

Dresden

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I made a last minute decision to watch this on the History International channel. It's one of the best TV decisions I've made in a long time.
This is a fabulous tale of the horrors of war, humanity of all sides in a conflict and romance.
You can feel the horror building as the British planes approach Dresden and see the horror of the devastating firestorm following the massive bombings as more than 25,000 civilians were killed.
There is tenderness here, too. The characters are multi-dimensional. Even those we think have done terrible things, we know are conflicted and in at least case seek penance.
The photography and special effects are stunning.
I'll have to save my nickles and dimes to buy this one.

I got to see part of "Dresden" while in Germany last year and was very impressed with its authenticity and devotion to detail. I know that some of the effects were digitally accomplished, but the acting and sets were terrific, too. My German isn't the best, so I'm looking forward to purchasing the DVD set, which will be subtitled in English. I understand that there will be some great DVD "extras" about the making of the movie, too.

We love documentaries and accurate historical fiction, and thoroughly enjoyed this program on the History channel. Since we missed the first hour plus, I was happy to see this is now available on DVD, and pre-ordered it immediately. It was extremely well thought out, the characters were engaging and believable, yet the historical details were carefully crafted and well done. Highly recommended. Also recommended about WWII: Band of Brothers; The War.

I just finished watching this movie and am still quite speechless. The film covers the events that took place in Dresden, Germany right before the end of WWII. In order to bring this story to light, we are introduced to two main characters, Anna and Robert. Anna is a nurse in Dresden and Robert is an injured English bomber pilot.

Even though I thoroughly enjoyed these two characters, they aren't the entire reason why I love this movie so much. What's so enjoyable is how all sides are brought to light. This film isn't attempting to make one side appear to be the victim, while the other side is full of vicious murderers. This isn't a one sided story. Instead, it's a multifaceted masterpiece. All of the bits of story come together and flow into one.

Yes, the film was meant for television, but the special effects are equal to any major Hollywood motion picture. The international cast is perfect in their delivery of their characters. You can tell how much time and effort was taken to make this film as accurate as humanly possible. They didn't cut any corners and it really pays off. This film is breathtaking and should be viewed by all. If you don't know the story of Dresden, then you'd best take a look because stories like these should never be forgotten.

I too first watch this film on the History Channel on 27 January 2008 and enjoyed it very much and I will be placing a pre-order for the movie right after I'm done here. Over the years I have read several books giving first hand accounts on the bombing of Dresden and coming across this movie last night while channel surfing was a real treat for me. Though in this story, the first 2 hrs sets up the romantic relationship of the main characters and the bombing of the city takes place in the last hour of the film. I must say that the director did a very fine job depicting many but not all of the horrors of the fire storm from that fateful night.

I'm looking forward to adding this movie to my collection and give it high marks.

Amazon recaps the plot outline so thoroughly there is no need to repeat it here. I will only say that this is a truly great film with a terrific cast and top-notch production values. It's the kind of movie Hollywood seems to make only very rarely anymore -- you know, an actual story with characters you care about told in a straightforward fashion (what a novel idea!). Felicitas Woll is simply outstanding and very captivating in her role. Everyone is very well cast and the screenplay is superb. It hooked me in right from the start and never let go.

The film gives a fairly balanced view of the reasoning and rationalizations leading up to the targeting of Dresden by the Allies. None of this can really be fully understood by us ex post facto, however. The loss of life and the sheer destruction wrought is simply too overwhelming.

As far as the film being in English OR German, as Amazon lists, at least the copy I rented (from that online rental outfit that shall remain namelessNetflix) was only in German, with English subtitles. This was fine with me.

I also highly recommend another Roland Suso Richter film, 'Der Tunnel', about a group of people who dug a tunnel under the Berlin Wall. Equally gripping and well done.

WOW! I am so glad I bought this movie. Well produced, good to the finish, great historical perspective. Dresden was a sad moment for US action in
WW2....the movie leaves the Americans out of the bombing,which it should not have done...as we came in the next day with bombers and
mustangs that shot innocents too. Great Movie, I'm sharing it with all my family and friends so we all learn.

I found myself watching this because I read a very good history of the disaster that befell Dresden at the end of World War II. Titled, Dresden, Tuesday, February 13, 1945, it a deeply moving and very balanced account of the terrible fate that befell that city.

Dresden: Tuesday, February 13, 1945

Anyway, the Dresden miniseries is not a dramatization of the true story of the city. It is more akin to the movie "Titanic" in that it is a love story set against an incredible event. Only the setting is not just the sinking of a ship with huge loss of life, but the fiery destruction of an entire city.

Like "Titanic," there are a lot of unlikely events. It is not too hard to believe that a British bomber pilot might be able to stay on the loose in Nazi Germany for several days (particularly since this one speaks German). Nor is it so unlikely that a German nurse might help him. It's a lot less likely I think that she'd jump into the sack and decide she loved him despite the fact that he was the enemy (and not just a member of another social class like DiCaprio's character in Titanic was). It's even more unlikely that he'd come to her engagement party and the pair would seek to escape but be caught up in the destruction of Dresden.
It seems even more unlikely that this would happen since the nurse and the pilot barely speak to each other throughout all of it.

This being said, I find myself enjoying it far more than Titanic. The acting is better and while the special effects and settings aren't quite as good as Titanic with its huge budget, they are pretty good. And while a schmalzy love story is the focus of the miniseries, you see a lot of things that are historical accurate...like the slaughter of soldiers unlucky enough to be branded deserters by German military police or the carnage Germany suffered as the Third Reich went down to bloody defeat.

I guess I would just say that it's eminently watchable and enjoyable. It's just not good "history" or even historical drama. It's just an occasion to watch two appealing characters (the beautiful nurse and the dashing British pilot) carry out a doomed romance silhouetted against the fires that consumed Dresden.

One final note: if you want to see a movie that Titanic very much so overshadows, but which is far more historically accurate, buy or get from Netflix, "A Night to Remember." Unlike Titanic, that movie is about the doomed ship, the tragedy of the Titanic is the story and not just setting for another.

A Night to Remember - Criterion Collection

This German made-for-TV movie provides a very realistic view of what happened in Dresden at the end of World War II. The story line also provides a great deal of suspense. Anyone interested in the fire bombing by the Allies needs to watch this. It certainly is an eye-opener regarding the morality of the bombing in Dresden and other German cities at a time when the war in Europe was already essentially decided. We watched this just before travelling to Dresden and found the reconstruction of the city to be amazing, especially since much didn't occur until after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Seeing the recently-completed recononctructed Frauenkirche was amazing!

Impressively done Brit-German anti-war TV-movie about WW II bombing of the German city of Dresden. The cast has many fine performers. Suspense & romance provide a strong one-two emotional punch.

While there's not a lot of combat action in the first half of the story, the last half focuses on the British bombing of Dresden and its disturbing impact on the civilian population. With the fine character development that took place in the early part of the story, the impact of the bombing scenes in the final episode is formidable.

This movie's high production costs have resulted in an excellent made-for-tv film that has the feel and look of a major film production. If you're looking for an accurate historical account of the Dresden bombing, I'd recommend a documentary. This movie was made to entertain more than inform, and it does that very well.