Rating: 
Summary: Death Dreams of Mourning
Review: "There are so many things you do not understand. There are so many things I cannot tell you. And the truth does not make it easier to understand."
So says Sophie Zawistowski, the tormented woman at the center of "Sophie's Choice." Alan J. Pakula's film of William Styron's novel stands proudly alongside "Schindler's List" as a document of the Holocaust, but while the latter film tells the story of a people, this movie chooses to tell one woman's unspeakable story. Everything about "Sophie's Choice" is right. Pakula's direction and screenplay are superb, and the cinematography by Nestor Almendros is breathtakingly beautiful. The centerpiece of the film, however, is Meryl Streep's Oscar-winning performance as Sophie (probably the most deserved win in history) and the equally brilliant turns by Kevin Kline (in his first film role) and a very young Peter MacNicol.
A young writer named Stingo (MacNicol) comes to Brooklyn "on a voyage of discovery," and while living there meets Sophie and Nathan (Streep and Kline), two lovers who quickly befriend him. Stingo soon developes a crush on Sophie, and learns that she is a survivor of Auschwitz. While the seductive Nathan becomes ever more dangerous, Stingo gradually learns the secrets of Sophie's past, a past filled with terrible secrets and unbearable pain and guilt.
Meryl Streep gives possibly the best film performance ever as Sophie, completely becoming the Polish Holocaust survivor. The range and complexity of her performance is astonishing. Streep has many monologues as Sophie where she reveals more an more of the horrors she witnessed in the concentration camps, and these are all filmed in close up on Streep's face. It's riveting. As played by Streep, Sophie is a woman filled with immense hope, but also haunted by suffering, her eyes almost always close to tears. The final scene of "the choice" is almost unbearable in its intensity and will disturb you for days. A monumental performance that never seems like acting.
As an actor, Kevin Kline tends to go over the top, but he does some of his best work ever in "Sophie's Choice" as the demented Nathan. His mood swings from lovable to terrifying are completely believable, and quite scary. Peter MacNicol also makes the most of Stingo, probably the least interesting character. As the film's narrator, his subtle and honest work holds the movie together. Without him, it wouldn't work.
At 150 minutes, "Sophie's Choice" is a little overlong. Alan J. Pakula was so concerned about being faith to the book that there are several scenes that probably should have been left on the cutting room floor. However, the movie is a remarkable achievement, one that will make you cry and leave you completely absorbed the entire time. "Sophie's Choice" plays like a mystery. You can't look away until you find out the terrible secret of her past. But don't be surprised when the answer breaks your heart.
Rating: 
Summary: Great adaptation, however...
Review: ...if you read the book before watching the movie - as I did - you may find yourself a little disappointed, or perhaps a little frustrated with the absence of some details that were left out in the movie. Yes, Pakula did his homework and kept it very loyal to Styron's masterpiece. And yes, the cast is really superb. It is understandable how hard it must have been to squeeze such a powerful and descriptive story into a 150 min. film, so after all it is worth buying this DVD. The special features are also great.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: After watching the movie, I was so moved by it that I couldn't think of anything but the movie for a few days. This is an excellent movie, with excellent actors & director. The movie is NOT long at all, & I enjoyed every minute of it. The choice that Sophie made is not soley based on 'the boy or the girl', but also why she chose to lie about her 'ashamed' past; & the 2 guys that loved her. Her final choice is death...sadly. This is a must see movie. I recommend to everybody who's interested in a serious movie.
Rating:
Summary: HAUNTING
Review: Alan Pakula brings the Styron novel to the screen with period-perfection, and he has in his court a trio of superb performances, lead, of course, by Meryl Streep, who finally won me over with her transformation into Sophie. The character is layered and rich with emotional baggage, and Meryl's performances is nothing short of transcendental. When I saw this movie in the theatre upon its release, there was an older woman in the audience, towards the front, who ran screaming from the theatre, her hands on her ears, during the gut-twisting "choice" sequence. Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol, who do battle over Sophie, and within their own hearts, are exceptional foils for Sophie, and each brings a resonance to the evocative Brooklyn locations. The European sequences, swathed in a sepia tone, are mesmerizing and horrific. Sophie's journey is also a mystery, and it unravels with devastating results. Marvin Hamlish designed the lush musical score, which continues to rip my heart open every time I play it. While Schindler's List is a more gigantic vision of the experience of the Holocaust, this movie is intensely personal, but does perhaps more to drive a stake through your heart. You will continue to wonder, long after the haunting images of Sophie's face fade from view, what might you have done in her shoes?
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent movie, mediocre transfer.
Review: An emotionally engaging and exhausting film, Sophie's Choice is a very-well crafted drama. The character development is superb, as the viewer is presented with a penetrating analysis of Sophie in which her background and that of her lover Nathan is revealed in layers that serve to make the story even more captivating with each new chapter. A tragic story on many levels, this film left me emotionally drained. And yet I was also curious to learn more about the story behind the film even as I was shocked anew by the grotesque horrors of human cruelty represented by the holocaust.The DVD is okay, with muted colors and a Dolby Pro Logic sound mix that rarely ventures beyond the center channel. At least the DVD presents the film in its original aspect ratio. The extras are good, consisting of a historical documentary that weaves the story behind the film with oral history by holocaust survivors, and a theatrical trailer.
Rating:
Summary: Great film
Review: Beautifully photographed. Kevin Kline has an interesting role, and between Meryl Streep's outstanding, seamless portrayal of Sophie and the slow revealment of her harrowing secrets, I was riveted, fascinated and horrified. Far more unsettling is the documentary appended to the DVD titled 'Death Dreams of Mourning.' There's nothing like the Holocaust to thoroughly destroy your composure. It poisoned humanity for all-time, and the only thing that makes me sicker or more angry is the fact that judgement never came. If ever there was a reason for God or the gods, whoever or whatever to intevene in human affairs, it was during WWII. The fact that the Allies won is of little comfort to me. I'm pretty sure that God wasn't on our side. Only by incinerating tens of thousands of men, women and children, mostly non-combatants, at Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden, Hamburg, and God knows where else, and by making an alliance with Stalin, a mass murderer of proportions even greater than Hitler, did the Allies manage to secure victory. But the Holocaust is definitely the worst thing I've ever come to know. Can you imagine working for an organization or foundation charged with educating the public about the Holocaust? To be a survivor? But the mind can't encompass the depravity of our last 'great war' in one sitting--you get it piecemeal, over a lifetime, if you have the stomach to keep listening. Many don't, and we forget.
Rating:
Summary: Ample make this bed . . .
Review: Besides being enthralled with the story and its stunning juxtaposition of romance and horror, the acting, music (Sophie's theme is beautiful) and cinematography, I developed a greater appreciation of Emily Dickinson's poetry which I ridiculed mercilessly while in college.
Rating:
Summary: What is Evil?
Review: Caught forever in an existential moment, Meryl Streep's portrayal of the aftereffects of Auschwitz is transfixing. Sophie is the guilt-ridden survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, and Streep's remarkable work brings her leaping off the screen into the hearts and minds of the watcher. This is a complex film which plays the outer tragedy of Sophie's present life against the inner tragedy of the evil she faced during the war. As the story of Sophie's devastating past unfolds in flashbacks Streep faces choice after choice in her present life. Each seems to eat away at her life. Peter MacNicol and Kevin Kline unite to give performances that that carefully balance Streep's, creating an intense overall effect that cannot be described easily, The film's emotional and intellectual content make is a bit too lengthy and stagy, but the lulls set the stage for the emotional crises. This is a heart rending story that will not be everyone's cup of tea, but Streep well deserves the Academy Award she got for this film, which was also nominated for best screenplay and best cinematography.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most poignant movies of all time. Period.
Review: From a totally penetrating and naked display of emotions, to her effortless narration of German prose, or the very convincingly affectuated Polish accent, this may be one of Streep's most outstanding performances ever! 'Sophie's Choice' should be compulsory viewing for any member of the voting panel who decides Academy Award winners. Quite simply, Meryl Streep's performance is THE benchmark for that 'Best Actress' category. I've seen a lot of films and not one performance has ever (or perhaps will ever) equal her's. The manner in which she embodies Sophie is beyond scrutiny, it is too accomplished and moving for words. Sophie is a person who is naive, jaded, innocent, guilt stricken, soft and gentle, hard as nails, loving and giving, and both practical and poetic to a fault. She is a classic tragic figure, a lesson in how to deal with the horrors of life and how not to deal with how those horrors haunt you. She is funny, soft and sweet, and you want to put your arms around her. Then you realize that underneath that childlike woman is a woman who has given up on childhood. She is a study in contradictions, speaking English, German, and Polish to survive at all costs. Then along comes Nathan, expertly portrayed by Kevin Kline (possibly one of his most challenging and multi-layered roles), and her life takes another turn. But we see all this through the wondering, innocent eyes of Stingo (Peter MacNicol), and the terror, love, laughs, friendship and alienation he experiences, that we experience. Aside from Streep's breathtaking pivotal performance, there are so many other reasons to own, collect and cherish this film -- Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol in their once in a lifetime role (I bet you cannot imagine anybody other than MacNicol who could portray Stingo like he does!), the beautiful cinematography, the haunting score which I realized was never overly touching or pretentiously dramatic....and yes, the key scene -- The Choice of Choices -- is possibly the most poignant scene ever on film, and how Meryl interprets Sophie during this scene is, by itself, worth an award! I loved this movie.
All I can say to sum up is: required viewing! An intelligent and profoundly moving film that will (I promise you) live on in your memory long after the closing credits.
Rating:
Summary: the most depressing movie ever
Review: I agree with others that this is an excellent movie--Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, are wonderful, etc. I saw it first in a movie theatre when it first came out, and found it's tragedy very painful to watch, yet compelling due to the quality of the film (and actors). In later years I have tried to watch the movie several times on VHS or TV, and tried to read the book as well. I can watch and read hour after hour of true crime, but this story, either in book or movie form, is perhaps the most depressing piece of work I've ever encountered. First of all, the tragedy of the holocaust is unspeakable except for the fact that it must be spoken about. That element of the film, displayed through Sophie's horrific experience unfolds slowly through painful flashbacks throughout. Second, the tragic personal choice she is forced to make--which of her children will be killed--speaks for itself. Thirdly, the tragedy of her lover's mental illness, so poingnant as we watch others with the same or similar illnesses today--homeless, untreated, misunderstood...so many perishing alone in our cold and drug-laden cities. Superior intelligence, it seems, fuels the tragedy by giving the false impression that the victim has the ability to have more control over the disease than he/she actually does. And finally, the ultimate depressing element of the film was the hope that both Sophie and her lover tried to cling to; displayed in bursts of reverie, joy, and engagement in life...like the final emergence of a hand grasping a slippery float, before it sinks. Perhaps others can tolerate this movie better than I, but it struck a haunting chord that has never left since I first viewed the movie.
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