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.
Rating:
Summary: Streep proves she is the best!
Review: I am so interested in analyzing films that I took a couple of cinema studies' classes in University, although I'm in Finance. I usually consider all aspects of the film (performances, script, direction, set design, lighting, millieu, mise-en-scene, etc.) before judging if it's good or bad. But with this film, Meryl Streep did it for me. Her amazing performance blew me away. It is the best performance I have ever seen so far. Other great performances by actresses: Jessica Lange in "Frances", Lili Taylor in "I Shot Andy Warhol", Meryl Streep in {"One True Thing", "Silkwood", "The French Lieutenant's Woman"}, Sally Field in "Norma Rae", Elizabeth Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?", Bette Davis in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?", and others. I have also made lists of the best performances by actors, the most risque movies ever made and others. If interested, e-mail me.
Rating: 
Summary: Director's commentary hard to hear over music
Review: I gave this DVD only 4 stars not because of the wonderful, brilliantly made movie (with IMHO the performance of the century by Meryl Streep) but because large portions of the director's commentary was so hard to hear over the music it might as well not be there. I think it is more a techical glitch than the director's fault. You can hear him fine when there's no music or other loud background noise. I was so looking forward to hearing Pakula's commentary that this was very disappointing. I love the movie and thought his insights would have been fascinating. Thinking it might be something wrong with my system, I loaned it to a friend that has a marvelous sound system. He couldn't hear it, either. If you're considering buying this DVD for director's comments, my advice is to skip this one.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!!! I loved it.
Review: I just watched Sophie's Choice, and if I didn't know who Meryl Streep was or if this was the first movie I had seen her in, I would have thought she was Jewish. She does not play a jew in the movie, she plays a woman from Poland, but she looks and talks just like a jew. She was absolutely perfect. Her actions, her vocabulary, her accent. It was all quite wonderful. But, I sobbed for about twenty minutes after watching it. I'm sorry I don't have anything witty to say about the movie, but I would DEFINITELY recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing..
Review: I own this video, but rarely watch it, as I do not want to lose any of it's eloquent, thought-provoking brilliance, as I tend to do after multiple viewings of any particular movie. This uncommon, beautiful movie, full of unexpected plot twists and revelations, is sage yet pure, solemn yet witty. Meryl Streep's performance is superb and plausible, as are Kline's and MacNicol's. The choice itself goes far deeper then the choice she must make with her children... It's much more than that. It's a choice most people probably could never comprehend. All we can ask is why.
Rating:
Summary: I don't believe this is fiction
Review: I read the book the moment it hit the stands because I was already a huge William Styron fan. I had a first edition! (Then I lent it to someone, and oh well, we all know the end of that story.) I just about reached a moment of person ecstacy (nice way to put it , eh?)when I heard Meryl Streep was chosen to play Sophie.(My other mental choice was Faye Dunaway - Meryl is better, no question.) And when I saw the movie, like the book they kept peeling away layer after layer of her story until in the end we 'know' her truth. I have it on DVD and watch at least once a year. It reaches me, it scares me, it touches my soft places and hardens my defensive ones. It makes me question how the character survives at all, instead of just having a psychotic break in the camp (which would have been certain death). It is perhaps the most horrible of horror movies where it is
horrific, and the most touching of character pieces where Sophie
is "made to bloom like a rose" in her humour, her humanity, and her regained health. It makes me laugh at all of Sophie's gentle and telling abuses of the language as she translates in her head and then speaks in a rather tortured eegnleesh. And it is also a remarkable movie for the sensitivity and strength of the three lead performances (Kevin Kline's debut!). Alan Pakula adapted and directed in a masterful sweep : history of the very large, and the very small. If he had never made another movie, this would be enough (but of course he did make others). It is hard to convince people (especially mothers) that they will
enjoy the book or the film, because they all aready think they know what "Sophie's choice" is....but the point is that Sophie makes choices on many levels throughout the film - all of which promise salvation of a sort, and deliver something quite different. It is a tragedy in all too human terms, because in all liklihood, it is NOT fiction. At a certain, high school age, this is the movie that students should watch when they start asking why there was a Second World War, and what evil lurks in the hearts of men, and why is there an Israel? If you have been thinking of renting it, or buying it, or reading it, I strongly recommend opening yourself to the experience. You will be richly rewarded and 'touched' everywhere. ".....and I knew that only a Jesus who no longer cared for me could take all of these peoples, that I did loved so much, away from me and leaving me here.........alive." "The truth. The truth the truth. I do not know anymore what is the truth. After all of these lies that I have told.......You want to know the truth?" Haunting.
Rating:
Summary: A very powerful film, impossible to forget!
Review: I watched "Sophie's Choice" not knowing at all what to expect. I assumed that the "choice" would be something commonplace in a film, like a choice between two lovers. When I found out what the choice really was, it made a very deep impression on me. It was the most gut-wrenching thing I have ever seen, in the movies or in real life. The scene is unforgettable. The emotionless evil of the SS officer offering Sophie the choice is highly disturbing. The man is extremely cold, almost Satanic in the evil he radiates. The strange thing is that he is not physically ugly-at first I thought the part was played by Alec Baldwin. This is easily the best portrayal of the Holocaust I've seen on film, much better than "Schindler's List." The evil of Auschwitz is so all-encompassing, so icy and devoid of emotion, that I can't help but think that it is the closest thing to Hell ever recreated on Earth. Also, Meryl Streep's performance is by far the best I have ever seen in any film. Her virtuosity and technical brilliance are unmatched. One reviewer compared it to DeNiro in "Raging Bull," and I have to agree. The supporting performances are excellent, especially Peter McNicol who is indispensable as the narrator. The one flaw I found with the film (and probably with the novel as well, although I have not read it) is Stingo's (the author's) highly self-conscious fixation on sex. I thought that it was irrelevant to the story. To anyone who feels that the film is too slow-paced, I say keep watching action movies until you grow up and leave superb films like these to people emotionaly mature enough to appreciate them. On the whole, I would rate this among the best films I've ever seen. Definitely don't miss it!
Rating:
Summary: Streep's Sophie will haunt you.
Review: I'm not sure whether I would call this a great film, for it fails to convey the nuances and complexities of characterization of the novel, and also, its elements of wry humor, but Meryl Streep as Sophie is simply overwhelmingly heart-rending in her portrayal of a person whose soul is destroyed as a consequence of having to live with the memory of how she was forced to cope with the Nazi genocide. I can't watch it without being profoundly shaken. Kevin Kline and Peter McNichols are excellent as well, but it is Streep as the doomed Sophie who is the heart and soul of this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Streep's excellence saves this from being "Stingo's Story"
Review: I've seen Sophie's Choice many times and it's probably Meryl Streep's best performance. She speaks English with a Polish accent, Polish, and German portraying a Holocaust survivor, a fictional character, but based on fact. The best aspect is the realism and emotional intensity of the flashbacks. So real that when the daughter is taken away the 5-year-old actress thought she was really about to die. The weaker aspect is Stingo's story. William Styron is the author who injects himself into the story, which is something of a flaw. It's always about, "what does Stingo think about things, what's happening in Stingo's world", and hence ends up watering down Sophie's harrowing story. We get some comic relief with him and a girl who "could say f***, but she could not do it." Very well, but what does it have to do with the main story? Nothing. And the poetry recitations at key moments detract from the story by oversentimentalizing. Kevin Kline is good, but too over-the-top, and the explanation for his behavior, that he's schizophrenic, doesn't add up. It's explained that he was diagnosed at 10, but could the problem have been an arbitrary diagnosis (which leads his life down the road of institutionalization) rather than an actual disease. I didn't read the book, so I'm not sure how it's dealt with there, but it seems that the whole character is completely dismissed with that diagnosis. So his obsession with escaped Nazis doesn't matter because it's simply that, an obsession. I'm glad Simon Wiesenthal wasn't dismissed this way. But aside from these weaknesses I loved the film overall, and Streep was completely into the role of Sophie. You tend to get overcritical with the sidetracks when you see it a few times.
Rating:
Summary: To The Point
Review: If you want to see why many people think that Meryl Streep is the greatest film actress on the planet, this is the film to see. The scene where she recalls her 'choice' is absolutely astonishing. It is very difficult to watch, in the same way of the Russian Roulette scene in the rier hut in 'The Deer Hunter'. I rate 'Sophie' as a 4, only because it is so intense and really only suited for adults.
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