I'm not sure this film needed to be made, and in the end, it becomes plodding and predictable

| Original Score: C | Jun 21, 2007

Impressively tackles the enduring dilemma inherent in dramatically depicting the enormous horror of the Nazi death camps, and meeting that challenge, oddly enough, in tacit admission of the very impossibility of that task.

Full Review | May 24, 2007

This powerful film celebrates individual acts of conscience in barbarous times.

| Mar 1, 2007

A fresh way to illuminate another worthy dark Holocaust story.

| Original Score: B+ | Feb 6, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 6, 2005

A morality thriller filled with heavy-handed allusions to the betrayal of Judas Iscariot.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 2, 2005

This low-key, talky Holocaust drama doesn't try to pummel viewers with visuals of the Nazis' atrocities, but what is described in dialogue is tough enough.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 2, 2005

Dark and depressing as the film is, it is thrilling to watch Henri work through his moral qualms as he battles the smooth tongue of evil.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 17, 2005

It's no wonder Schlöndorff favors close-ups; with Mattes on screen, The Ninth Day gets right to its emotional core.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 11, 2005

The dark, rotting interiors and sunless winter skies create a festering atmosphere of unexpiated guilt as Kremer ponders the question of how a decent man is to navigate the rivers of hell.

| Original Score: B+ | Nov 10, 2005

The Ninth Day is far from perfect, but is still thought-provoking and intriguing, a film that can begin its own kind of debate.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 7, 2005

Plays more like a philosophical debate than a war drama.

| Aug 18, 2005

The film's effectiveness hinges almost entirely on the performance of Matthes.

Full Review | Jul 30, 2005

An accomplished, confident work.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 23, 2005

The film's star ... is Diehl, who perfectly captures the banality of evil inherent in Nazism. Villains are great characters, and Diehl's Gebhardt is terrific.

| Jul 15, 2005

It just feels like too much over too little.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 15, 2005

Schlondorff draws a telling picture of the ravished moral landscape that kept the wheels of the Holocaust turning.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jul 15, 2005

A thoughtfully written drama of ideas with vivid performances by August Diehl and Ulrich Matthes.

| Jul 7, 2005

A morally complex and emotionally satisfying drama about the vagaries of Catholic response to the Third Reich.

Full Review | Jul 7, 2005

Schlondorff's greatest tools in forging this character study is taste, balance, and a pro's inherent sense of dramatic construction.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 18, 2005