Sunshine

Rating:
Summary: Anti-Semitism Illustrated Against a Backdrop of Assimilation
Review: "Sunshine" is mainly about four generations of a Jewish family in Hungary who try to assimilate into the Christian world around them in order to find social acceptance. Most of the characters -- except for Valerie (Jennifer Ehle/Rosemary Harris), an "adopted" daughter and thus an outsider -- are deluded into believing that such an assimilation is workable. Each generation finds out the hard way that Anti-Semitism is a core societal belief and whatever political faction is in power -- a liberal aristocracy, Naziism, or Communism -- Jews will continue to be outsiders and outcasts IF the country where they live regards them as scapegoats and pariahs.

As the personal stories unfold in each generation, there is a wonderful progression that holds the tale together, as well as does Ralph Fiennes' three performances as a grandfather, father, and son. The great-grandfather (David De Peyser) is proud of his Jewish heritage, of his family name, Sonnenschein, and of his family business, that produces a wonderful liqueur called "Sunshine," which is what Sonnenschein means.

His son (played by Ralph Fiennes in his first role), is a lawyer and judge, who changes his last name to something less Jewish and more Hungarian. He finds neither love, acceptance, or fullfillment personally or professionally as a result, and his life ends rather lonely and miserably.

His son (Fiennes again) takes the assimilation a step further and becomes a Roman Catholic so that he can join the right club and pursue his career as a fencing master, ultimately winning an Olympic gold medal. The temporary adulation he receives makes him forget his heritage and his original religion completely. He is sadistically murdered at Auschwitz, sadly denying his Jewishness to the bitter end.

It is the grandson, again played by Fiennes, who not only watches helplessly as his father is murdered, but ultimately, after the war is ended, embraces communism as a solution. But as Stalinist-type communism yet again focuses on Jews as a Zionist enemy, the grandson is forced to take part in the interrogation of an innocent Jewish communist, accused of Zionism (played by William Hurt), who is ultimately beaten to death.

With the help and wisdom of his great-aunt Valerie, who nearing death reclaims the original family name, the grandson at last frees himself from the politics around him and willfully becomes an outcast. As a result, he achieves spiritual freedom. He also regains his pride and his Jewishness and legally changes his name back to Sonnenschein. Communism ends, and the sun does indeed shine once more.

In most films, a central character grows and changes as the result of varied experiences. "Sunshine" just presents a wider canvas in which Ralph Fiennes must be reincarnated several times over in order to get his act together. It's no accident that the same actor plays three roles. It's intrinsic to the whole piece as we watch what is initially a spiritual regression -- with the first name change -- become a spiritual progression with the name change back again. Symbolism abounds as the actual recipe for the liqueur gets lost (just as the characters get lost), but by the end, the recipe is no longer needed.

Rating:
Summary: Solar Eclipse, dude
Review: Norma was the first one to start talking about this movie, but it was Suzanne who actually suggested we go, and looked rather sheepish by the end of the proceedings.

What's with those Hungarian women? As depicted in this movie, they are the most hot-to-trot females of all Europe. And the focus of their uncontrollable lust is always Ralph Fiennes! Ralph plays three generations of men in this family, who lose their Jewish roots more and more with each generation as they also lose more and more facial hair. Is there symbolism in that detail? Are truly in-touch-with-their-Jewishness men shaggy? He also changes his surname and converts to Christianity in two different lifetimes.

It's an arty looking film, but long though it is, it could have been longer, because from time to time we have narration explaining the passage of time, which must mean, "We gotta cut this thing down, but maybe the audience couldn't follow the storyline without a voiceover." For example, Rosemary Harris merely returns to the homestead after the defeat of the Nazis, and the voiceover informs us, "Oh, yes, she was being hidden by friends after she escaped from the train taking her to a concentration camp." Don't you get the impression that was filmed but hit the editing room floor?

I wanted to like "Sunshine" because I like Jennifer Ehle, but this was heavy going for all involved. If you want some sunshine in your life, by all means rent Ehle's earlier triumph "Pride and Prejudice"--no sex and about 98% better.

Rating:
Summary: Freeze, Turkey!
Review: Some people may think it's pretty funny to watch Ralph Feinnes camping it up in women's underwear, but three hours of this schtick seems a little overdone. "Sunshine" actually did make me laugh out loud for the first hour or so, but after a while, the jokes wear a little thin. If you don't know yet, the whole film revolves around the search for a missing health drink recipe (as in Woody Allen's "What's Up Tigerlily?"), and at one point, Feinnes and company (which is actually Feinnes, Feinnes and Feinnes as he plays a triple role) manufacture some conterfeit health drink and sell it to the Nazis, with predictable Three Stooges-inspired results. I don't mind slapstick or flatulence jokes ("Sunshine" has plenty of both), but a constant barrage of sophomoric humor for three hours leaves the viewer feeling just plain tired out. One reviewer claimed that "Sunshine" resembled the kind of movies Mel Brooks made BEFORE "Blazing Saddles," but many viewers will find that the often criticisized factory explosion scene in "Sunshine" has a lot in common with Brooks's bean-eating scene in his western. You have to wonder where the director thought he was going with the whole thing. A lot of the slapstick seems inspired by "Home Alone" or "Mouse Hunt," but the nearly wall-to-wall naked women and sex jokes seems geared more for the Howard Stern crowd. (Incidently, watch for Feinnes doing his Groucho Marx impersonation in the scene where Rachel Weitz sends up her role in the Mummy movies-there's no gag too ludicrous for this movie, believe me.) Throw in the raunch and self-conscious hipness of a "Scary Movie" or an "American Pie" and you've got this odd conglomeration of anything-goes humor, kind of like a Monty Python movie done badly. Nothing to complain about there, it's just that it goes on for three hours! Basically, "Sunshine" has something to offend virtually everyone, but it also has something that will have everyone laughing to him or herself for days.

Rating:
Summary: take my wife please
Review: A lighthearted romp through Hungarian history, "Sunshine" follows the trials and tribulations of three generations of the Sonnenshein family. Ralph Feinnes, in great comic form here, plays all three roles: Grampa, Pops and Junior. While the director was obviously thinking of structuring this movie along the lines of Alec Guinness's great "Kind Hearts and Coronets," in which Guinness played (I think) seven roles, many times "Sunshine" seems to have more in common with an Eddie Murphy film like "The Klumps." Be that as it may, the laughs keep coming when the recipe for the fabled health drink, which has brought the family fame and fortune, becomes lost. Add a few crazy women as love interests (including Deborah Kara Unger who seems ready to reprise her role in "Crash" here) and you've got the kind of film Mel Brooks used to make before "Blazing Saddles." "Sunshine" also has its serious side, as it is set against the backdrop of WWII and Stalin's pogroms. Still, in the tradition of Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" and Jerry Lewis's "The Day the Clown Cried," the serious undercurrent never gets in the way of some inspired sight gags, fabulous one-liners (listen carefully during the "pass the salt sequence") and general silliness.

Rating:
Summary: THREE HOURS THAT FLY
Review: This film was, at times, painful to watch. For example, the concentration camp scene when Ralph Fiennes refuses to identify himself as a Jew but insists he is Adam Sors, Hungarian, champion fencer, etc. is painful to watch. He is beaten and finally strung up where water is sprayed on him until it freezes, all with his son looking on.
The film is epic in length (three hours), but those three hours pass effortlessly as the story is told of three generations of the Sonnenschein family and their trials through the turbulent 20th century. Anti-semitism and revolution kept displacing the family and their identities until finally only one or two of them remained by the end of the film. All the performances here are magnificent. Ralph Fiennes plays three different roles here, and all to perfection, ambitiously. He certainly plays the opposite role for which I most vividly remember him (Commandant Amon Goeth in Schindler's List). Jennifer Ehle plays the younger Valerie Sonnenschein/Sors, while Rosemary Harris assumes the role later in the film with grace and believability. Overall there are many details that could be highlighted to review the film, but it is above all a film that should be watched for oneself. It is a potent reminder of history's lessons and how power (or lack of power) shapes people.

Rating:
Summary: Serious Story with a Dark Side
Review: At times it seems this story is attempting to be Dr. Zhivago in love and lust and yet it fails to capture the heart as only that movie could. The Cinematography is beautiful in many places although there seems to be a repeat of many scenes in order to connect the story. This is similar in that it is a story of forbidden happiness where men have to choose between good and evil and often the sides seem blurred by a cause.

A movie of epic proportions which details the lives of three generations set against the turbulent background of the 20th Century. A Jewish-Hungarian family lives to tell of many changes in their country while they themselves are persecuted. They give the country their all, yet those they know betray them. This is a story of lust and power. It is about wrong choices for a country and for the individual in which the rays of hope are always blocked by those choices. No joy is found, only leftover and brief happiness.

Sunshine" is a literal translation of Sonnenschein, the family name. One could say it was similar to "moonshine" in that Sunshine is a beverage with a secret recipe. The recipe for the distilled herbal tonic is written in a little black book.

Fiennes plays the part of grandfather, father and son. It is not hard to tell the three men apart as each loses more hair than the one before. First a beard and moustache, then just a moustache and finally no moustache. Each desires power and does not heed the warning to avoid lust and power.

The family turmoil stems from the marriage of cousins which is forbidden. Valerie is adopted into the family and is the continuing character that holds the story together. She is the wildflower that grows where it was planted. She gives this movie roots yet seems to plant the desire for forbidden love into the family.

What this movie lacked was real love. It was filled with lust and power but lacked that very thing that keeps us together...morality. This is a movie about the "regret of not doing the right thing." It also deals with the issue of how humans are at times scared and don't protect one another.

By only protecting themselves they fail to look after the interests of all. This is why socialism will never work. Perhaps this movie was swept away by its own storm of misplaced judgment and so its actors lack character and fail to evoke our sympathies.

May I recommend Dr. Zhivago again, it is so much more emotionally fulfilling and is story telling at its finest! This movie failed to involve my heart in any way. The women were not portrayed as well-rounded characters.

This movie insults the viewer with content of an adult nature that I did not expect to be in "even" an R-rated movie.

Rating:
Summary: Accurate and moving
Review: Sunshine tells the moving story of 4 generations of a Hungarian Jewish family. Many of the details in this movie relate to my own family's story, including the importance of the "brew," which was actually a common product of the northeastern Hungarian region.

Rating:
Summary: Just sickening!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I rented this movie in hopes of learning more about European Jews and the history of Hungary, but I was absolutely disgusted by the unnecessary, filthy, and disgusting sex scenes, which, to me, seemed like pornography. I found them to be very disturbing and distracting throughout the whole movie. I tried to concentrate on the family plot, but the scenes were very bothersome to me and totally uncalled for. From my observations, I have noticed that Ralph Fiennes chooses to do movies with roles always containing these types of scenes. His acting is always marred by his decision to do these types of roles and scenes and while he can act, I just don't have any respect for him as an actor or a person. This is a guy who obviously has personal problems in his love life.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, powerful and insightful
Review: 'Sunshine' is a forceful and wonderful film that follows four generations of a Jewish Hungarian family through seventy tumultuous years of Hungarian history. The story is extremely well done with rich, finely etched characters. The screenplay is better suited for a miniseries than a three hour film simply because there is so much material to cover. Three hours is both too long and too short; the story is emotionally exhausting making it too long for one sitting, yet the total length is not long enough to do the subject matter justice.

Hungarian Writer/Director Istvan Szabo captures Hungary's turbulent transition from empire to fascist state to soviet satellite weaving the history of the times into the lives of this extraordinary family. He puts a human face on the historical facts giving us a disturbingly real look at what it might have been like to live through it, especially from the Jewish perspective.

Despite a whirlwind pace that requires years to be spanned in minutes, Szabo manages to conjure deep and insightful character studies of the members of each generation. His period renderings are exquisite from costumes to props to locations. This is a wonderfully textured presentation with history layered over the human stories, addressing the many indignities suffered by Jews in Hungary during the period, and the many concessions made to merely stay alive. It is a story that contains both triumph and tragedy, presented with amazing candor.

Ralph Fiennes gives three incredible performances as the grandfather, father and son of the patriarchy. Szabo has endured criticism for casting the same actor in three roles, but in this case it is an excellent choice. Fiennes is a versatile artist and personalizes three radically different characters, slipping on each personality like a custom fitted glove. He loses himself in each, rendering them all passionately but appropriately based on the motivations established in Szabo's careful character development. With Szabo's guidance, it is clear that Fiennes has an inherent understanding of the psyche of his three characters and plays them with believable nuance.

Two different actresses play Valerie and each is splendid. Jennifer Ehle plays the young Valerie and endows her with ardor and vivacity. She establishes Valerie as the strongest continuing character in the film, providing linkage between the past and the present. In another stroke of casting brilliance, Szabo selects Ehle's real life mother, Rosemary Harris as the elder Valerie. The clear resemblance linked with Harris' magnetic performance adds fullness to Valerie's later years. William Hurt and James Frain lead an ensemble of strong supporting actors that give the film great intensity and depth of talent.

This thoughtful and emotionally provocative character study is engrossing and compelling. I rated it a 9/10 only because I wish Szabo would have gone deeper and divided it into two or three installments. On a dramatic and artistic level, this film is first rate.

Rating:
Summary: Overcast
Review: I wanted "Sunshine" to be the sophisticated epic its publicity suggested, but my heart sank in the first five minutes when the narrator Ivan's great great grandfather is killed in an explosion worthy of John Woo or a Bond film. Such a gratuitously spectactular opening is an insult, as if we couldn't be moved by a serious examination of history without this visual cymbal crash. It also points to "Sunshine's" fundamental problem: Money, the need to make it and the need to show it being spent.

Director Istvan Szabo's most famous work ("Mephisto," "Colonel Redl") was made during the Communist era. Whatever might be said against it, Communism didn't worry too much about making a profit. Both of those films, at least, are serious examinations of the relationship between individuals and history. Here, the need to look elsewhere for funds to help blow up that farmhouse, clothe the actors in period-correct attire and gather the extras for the crowd scenes turns "Sunshine" into an international (Hungarian, Austrian, German, French, Canadian) production with no shared language. English was probably settled upon for its guarantee of a wider audience. And in quite justifiable fear that contemporary audiences might take offense at anything without a mushy feel, the irony and bite of Szabo's other work gives way to a sentimental soppiness only occasionally relieved by insight.

The language issue is particularly crippling because "Sunshine" is so obsessed with national and personal identity. No number of shots of the Hungarian countryside or the Budapest opera house can make us forget that everyone is speaking in the wrong language. Indeed, the presence of "real" Hungary makes us all that more aware of the oddity of everyone speaking English. As a result, the tone is desperate and off throughout. The first third is particularly declarative and familiar, especially if you've seen "Colonel Redl," which covered similar thematic territory.

Things pick up when the film dramatizes the period leading up to the Second World War and the death of Ivan's father. There's real suspense as the Sonnenschein family repeatedly and quite believably convinces itself it has nothing to fear. (Incidentally, although Hungary was allied with Germany, the Nazis did not, in fact, rule there until the declining days of World War II. That makes the anti-Semitism shown in the film an expression of traditional European prejudices, not the product of a pathological state--which really makes it worse.)

The final third about the Communist era starts promisingly, with a sharp performance from William Hurt as a Party official who befriends Ivan. Once Ivan discovers his political conscience, though, our prejudices are affirmed. The level of analysis of the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, for example, isn't much more than the narrator (almost literally) saying "This was a bad thing. This was a really bad thing." Who would argue?

"Sunshine," on the other hand, isn't a really bad movie. It's just a series of disappointments occasionally interrupted by flashes of inspiration.