Hate it or love it, you're not going to quickly forget this movie.

Some claim it to be pure exploitation: Nazi sexploitation. If so, then it is certainly the best filmed, directed, and acted exploitation film in the entire genre.

This film is an examination of Stockholm Syndrome and the effects it has on the relationship between Max and Lucia. Max was an SS officer, Lucia his prisoner at the concentration camp he was assigned too. Their co-dependence is is the central focus of the story.

The only part of the movie I found distasteful was the "Nazi Self-Help Group" subplot. Entirely unnecessary. It is as if the script writer and director didn't trust the strength of the relationship between Max and Lucia to carry the movie, thus threw in this non-conqequential story element about Nazi's purging themselves of their guilt (and witnesses to their crimes) in a self-help setting.

Surprisingly, this movie was directed by a woman. Women, of course, are not above exploitive film making, but it certainly makes a case against. Personally I don't see how this film is exploitive. I think its just a charge brought upon it due to the time in which it was released and due to the fact that it did birth a truly exploitive industry from its loins.

Personally, I found it to be a deftly made character examination between abuser and victim.

No extras on this disc. Too bad. Would have been nice to have seen a commentary. But perhaps no one is willing to lend their name to one, considering the strong feelings people have about this film.

I agree, this is the first Criterion disc I ever purchased because I always wanted to see this movie when I was younger in the 70's but could not due to its content. After seeing it I thought it was an excellent and very haunting movie. I just wish that it at least had a director's commentary.

Hey Dogg Breath thanks for all the excellent reviews. It is unusually to see a poster here at DVD Talk express thought out opinons about a film at length rather than spit out "it rules" or "it sucks". Unfortunately, space in these forums is extremely limited so we've had to restrict all posts to either monosylabic grunts, links to other threads, or quotes from other peoples posts. By limiting yourself to shorter posts and fewer threads it insures that there will be plenty of room for all the important threads: reviews of Vertical Limit, questions about Star Wars, and debates over "who rules more, PTA or Kevin Smith."

Just thought somebody should thank you

See you soon :)

[Edited by Pants on 05-27-01 at 06:02 PM]

For those people who have seen the film, does it have much replay value? It sounds like it would be an interesting film to watch, once. I'm not so sure about seeing it multiple times.

For those of you who want to preview/watch the entire movie, you can do so at http://www.movieflix.com