Mike Schneider

Zehr gut! Well performed, fascinating & touching story. Verging on overkill here & there in making the Nazis out as cartoonishly vile & evil, which is not something I've ever said or written before. The story, as it is, is almost unbeiievable & proves, if it needed proving, that truth is stranger than you can imagine — which is a bit of a problem to deal with in making a movie that, being a movie, needs to suspend disbelief. Anyway, this is a very good movie. Not least it represents some incredible filming of animals. Jessica Chastain must have been more than a little frightened at times in scenes with animals, and comes across to me as a very brave actress . . .

Engaging all the way through, exceptionally fine cast, Phillip Seymour Hoffman's last performance is memorable, with a plot twist at the end that blows up the skillfully laid plan of Bachmann, Hoffman's character, and leaves him screaming as if at the Gods in frustration. A complicated plot — requires focused attention. Don't look away into the popcorn bag for more than a microsecond.I love the Tom Waits song, "Hoist That Rag," that plays over the closing credits. Rachel MacAdams is a human-rights lawyer helping a Muslim refugee from Chechneya.Nina Goss, German actress, is excellent as a member of Bachmann's terrorist investigatve team.