9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :- An amazing piece of (hi)story-telling, 16 August 2007
Author:
RonaldoDerErste from Berlin, Germany
"Am Ende kommen Touristen" (literally: "In the end it's tourists
coming") is more than a film about Auschwitz today. Actually, it is not
even a film about Auschwitz. It is a film about how the abyss of the
past transcends into the problems of the present. It is a story of
trans-generation and trans-national relations that gain extra-dynamics
by the presence of the historical weight of the concentration camp of
Auschwitz.
In this sense, the film is an amazing piece of story-telling because it
catches the hesitations and irritations that we all - especially in my
generation - have when dealing with our past knowing that in fact we
are handling the questions and relations of today. Additionally, "Am
Ende kommen Touristen" has a very subtle way of mixing irony and
cynicism, attention and ignorance, anger and joy, closeness and
distance without making it feel constructed or misleading. It is not
very innovative in terms of film-making or cinematic narrative
(therefore 9/10) but it is a very honest story with fondly drawn
characters, respect for past and present, and an appropriate ending
that is really worth seeing - even more than once!
6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :- First movie about modern Europeans and the Holocaust, 16 September 2007
Author:
abwetman from Canada
This film has no clichés, which is amazing considering its subject has
had a thousand examinations ,but never from the view of people who it
plays little roles in their life.
It is a great examination of the still strained relationship of Germany
and the rest of European and the dominate role Germany plays in the EU
economy.
Stuble and fun until the tourist come. You will understand if you get
to see this great film I saw it at TIFF.
The crowds were extremely ethusiastic about the film
Director and writer reveals that it is semi auto biographical at a Q
and A at TIFF
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :- A sensitive story set in today's Oswiecim, 24 November 2007
Author:
RKBlumenau from United Kingdom
Sven, a young German (Alexander Fehling), electing to do civilian work
for his national service and hoping to be sent to Amsterdam, is sent,
without any preparation, to Oswiecim (Auschwitz), where he is to act as
the helper of an octogenarian Polish former inmate (Ryszard
Ronczewski), who has chosen to go on living on the camp site, repairing
disintegrating suitcases for the exhibition there and occasionally
speaking as a witness to tourists.
The young man is gradually sensitized to the situation; the old man,
crusty and unfriendly towards the young German, hardly changes in his
attitude. Both performances were quite magnificent.
The ordinary citizens of today's Oswiecim are reminded when they are
asked where they come from that they live in a place whose name is
associated with infamy; but otherwise they live very normal lives, and
there seems to be no incongruity in the fact that the young people of
Oswiecim dance the nights away in bars and pop venues just as young
people do in other places. Some, like the young woman who becomes
Sven's girl friend (Barbara Wysocka), who are good linguists, make a
living out of conducting guided tours through the camp.
I think it is an ALMOST perfect film, sensitive, bringing out the
relationship between the two main characters, with straightforward and
ungimmicky filming. But, without forgetting that there were many
non-Jewish Poles who also suffered in Auschwitz, it is all the same
somewhat astonishing that Jews are nowhere mentioned in the film. The
old man presumably was not Jewish; as a Polish inmate he had been given
the job by the Nazis to collect the suitcases from the new arrivals.
Repairing the suitcases for the exhibition is his mission in life. The
only indication of the Holocaust is the fact that one can read the
Jewish names on the suitcases.
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Am Ende kommen Touristen (2007) More at IMDb Pro »
9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-

An amazing piece of (hi)story-telling, 16 August 2007
Author: RonaldoDerErste from Berlin, Germany
"Am Ende kommen Touristen" (literally: "In the end it's tourists coming") is more than a film about Auschwitz today. Actually, it is not even a film about Auschwitz. It is a film about how the abyss of the past transcends into the problems of the present. It is a story of trans-generation and trans-national relations that gain extra-dynamics by the presence of the historical weight of the concentration camp of Auschwitz.
In this sense, the film is an amazing piece of story-telling because it catches the hesitations and irritations that we all - especially in my generation - have when dealing with our past knowing that in fact we are handling the questions and relations of today. Additionally, "Am Ende kommen Touristen" has a very subtle way of mixing irony and cynicism, attention and ignorance, anger and joy, closeness and distance without making it feel constructed or misleading. It is not very innovative in terms of film-making or cinematic narrative (therefore 9/10) but it is a very honest story with fondly drawn characters, respect for past and present, and an appropriate ending that is really worth seeing - even more than once!
6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-

First movie about modern Europeans and the Holocaust, 16 September 2007
Author: abwetman from Canada
This film has no clichés, which is amazing considering its subject has had a thousand examinations ,but never from the view of people who it plays little roles in their life.
It is a great examination of the still strained relationship of Germany and the rest of European and the dominate role Germany plays in the EU economy.
Stuble and fun until the tourist come. You will understand if you get to see this great film I saw it at TIFF.
The crowds were extremely ethusiastic about the film
Director and writer reveals that it is semi auto biographical at a Q and A at TIFF
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-

A sensitive story set in today's Oswiecim, 24 November 2007
Author: RKBlumenau from United Kingdom
Sven, a young German (Alexander Fehling), electing to do civilian work for his national service and hoping to be sent to Amsterdam, is sent, without any preparation, to Oswiecim (Auschwitz), where he is to act as the helper of an octogenarian Polish former inmate (Ryszard Ronczewski), who has chosen to go on living on the camp site, repairing disintegrating suitcases for the exhibition there and occasionally speaking as a witness to tourists.
The young man is gradually sensitized to the situation; the old man, crusty and unfriendly towards the young German, hardly changes in his attitude. Both performances were quite magnificent.
The ordinary citizens of today's Oswiecim are reminded when they are asked where they come from that they live in a place whose name is associated with infamy; but otherwise they live very normal lives, and there seems to be no incongruity in the fact that the young people of Oswiecim dance the nights away in bars and pop venues just as young people do in other places. Some, like the young woman who becomes Sven's girl friend (Barbara Wysocka), who are good linguists, make a living out of conducting guided tours through the camp.
I think it is an ALMOST perfect film, sensitive, bringing out the relationship between the two main characters, with straightforward and ungimmicky filming. But, without forgetting that there were many non-Jewish Poles who also suffered in Auschwitz, it is all the same somewhat astonishing that Jews are nowhere mentioned in the film. The old man presumably was not Jewish; as a Polish inmate he had been given the job by the Nazis to collect the suitcases from the new arrivals. Repairing the suitcases for the exhibition is his mission in life. The only indication of the Holocaust is the fact that one can read the Jewish names on the suitcases.
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