Reviews (41)

Streep and Kline in a powerful depiction!!!
Where does one begin to talk about a topic which is portrayed in one of the most disturbing of movies ever made about the Holocaust. This was a long haul, this film which has Meryl Streep portraying Sophie, a woman with a hidden past, and her lover, Kevin Kline, who portrays "Nathan," and off the wall lunatic/poet/prodigy (you guess!) and then there is Peter MacNicol, who is befriended by these two sorts, and the movie progresses as we see Sophie and Nathan at their best loving one another, and at their worst when they hate each other. But through the film, we learn the "secret" of what Sophie's choice entailed, and the story enfolds itself around you until you are weeping with her and getting angry with her, and finally, at the end, getting so disappointed at the ultimate choice she makes, along with her lover. It's not an uplifting film at all, and I would recommend one keeps his or her wits about them when the film is watched. This is a true "thinking cap" movie, and it evokes many feelings. I hope yours are as intact as mine were, or I thought they were. But of course my wife hated the movie, much more for the choice Sophie had to face in Nazi Germany, than for anything else, and she cried and cried and cried - something she doesn't like to do, but it proved the movie really moved her. Highly recommended.

A shattering tale of sacrifice and survival
The incomparable Meryl Streep unleashes a devastating Academy Award performance (her second, but her only one as Best Actress to date) in this powerful and shattering tale of a Polish immigrant who survives the horrors of Hitler's Holocaust and the choice she is forced to make to her Nazi captors: which of her two children to sacrifice to the death camps. Setting out in post-war Brooklyn, the film introduces Sophie and an aspiring writer (a very young Peter McNicol) who live together with Sophie's tempestuous lover (Kevin Kline, in an amazing dramatic turn). Through flashbacks, director Alan J. Pakula guides us on an intelligent and probing but grippingly painful look at the horrors that War War II was to the millions of Hitler's victims and the extremes that his prisoners undertook to survive. Paluka's blend of Sophie's life in nostalgic Brooklyn and in the concentration camps of World War II is horrific in its effectiveness as it accentuates the absolute terror and inhumanity of the Holocaust. But that dramatic strategy might not have worked with any actress other than Streep. She is simply that devastating and wholly believeable with her perfect Polish accent and her decimated physical appearance because of her time in the custody of her Nazi victimizers. With that one performance, Streep managed to raise the level of leading actresses and likely earned her the distinction of being one of the industry's most respected performers ever. Her raw and honest emotional trauma makes "Sophie's Choice" a well-worthy watching, and the film's subject matters reminds us once again of the evil that man can do.

Agonizing - in more ways than one
This movie is simply agonizing in more ways than one. First, the bad. This movie is very lengthy - 2 hours and 30 minutes, and let me tell you, I could feel each and every minute sloooowly tick by. The story moves slowly as well, and it's hard to tell - what is real? What is false? Even when Sophie's "choice" is revealed at the end, are we, the audience, sure this is real or just a fabrication? As Sophie says somewhere in the movie, she has told so many lies it is hard to sort the truth from the falsehoods.

The movie paints a portait of Stingo (Peter MacNicol, lately of Ally McBeal), a Southern writer who makes the acquaintance of Sophie and Nathan, his upstairs neighbors, and then can't get rid of them. Sophie's a Polish immigrant who has spent time in the concentration camps during WWII, while Nathan is a medical researcher obsessed with the evils of the Holocaust. Why did Sophie survive while so many others died? This is the question that haunts Nathan, and haunts Sophie, whose entire family was murdered in the concentration camps.

Eventually, slowly, the story of Sophie emerges to Stingo, as we get some dramatic close-ups of Sophie telling us the story, making it feel more like a play than a movie. We flashback to life in the concentration camps, which has been prepared for us by the sadness which permeated the first half. Truths also begin to emerge about Nathan - and the tragic lives of Sophie and Nathan wind closer towards their end.

Meryl Streep? Is just amazing. This is an awe-inspiring piece of work for Streep. She masters different dialects and speaks different languages for much of the film. Her Sophie is simply a haunting image that will stay with you long after the end credits finish. Kevin Kline as Nathan is perfect as well. Peter MacNicol? Well, I can take him or leave him.

When the movie ends, you may have to wipe yourself off from the floor - not only from the tragic sadness and despair of the film, but from the mind-numbing length. This movie paints pictures of so much evil and grief it's hard to get over.

the most depressing movie ever
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.

Meryl Streep is simply exceptional
Probably everyone has seen this movie, and probably everyone knows the premise, and probably everyone knows what Sophie's choice was and why it's slowly driving her crazy. But just in case there's a viewing population who is still clueless about this movie (based on the best-selling novel by William Styron), I'm not going to say too much so as not to give it away - because I was stunned with the enormity of it when I saw the movie for the first time and don't want to ruin that potential element of horrible surprise for new viewers.
Setting: Brooklyn, just after WWII.
Characters: Stingo (a young idealistic writer), Sophie (a Polish war survivor of the Holocaust), and Nathan (Sophie's lover, played in his movie debut by Kevin Klein)
Plot line: Something horrible happened to Sophie during her time in a Nazi concentration camp, and details are slowly revealed through a series of harrowing flashbacks.
Advice: See this movie. It's one of the best ever. ... Read more

Description

Herman Broder (Ron Silver) is a Holocaust survivor in postwar New York, wed out of gratitude to the peasant woman who hid him from the Nazis. He carries on a mad affair with a concentration camp survivor (Lena Olin), only to find out that the snappish wife (Anjelica Huston) he thought had died in the war is miraculously alive. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

grief, love, forgiveness
I saw this movie after reading Steven Pinker's non-fiction book on socio-biology, "The Blank Slate." Pinker recommended this movie based on a tale by Isaac Bashevis Singer, for its study of the human condition, ripe with irony, seasoned with despair, love and forgiveness.

The casting is excellent, and the acting is first-rate from beginning to end. Male viewers will wonder how Herman Broder gets so lucky, having three different but highly appealing women in love with him. Tidily, the three women are from three boroughs of New York City, a typical Singer touch, and the movie includes a scene where Broder stands at the subway entrances deciding which direction to take.

Highly recommended.

Great film, awful DVD
I concur with other viewers who found the DVD unacceptable in sound quality. Oddly enough, it gets excellent reviews as a DVD transfer. They must have had a different copy. But the film itself remains as fresh and exciting as when it first was issued. Mazursky captures the spirit (if not all the nuances) of I. B. Singer's marvelous novel about Holocaust survivors in New York in the 1950s. None of the reviewers here seem either to have read the book or really understood the point of the film -- Herman Broder, ghost writer, who was hidden during the war by the Polish servant who saved him and marries her (Jadwiga), finds passion with Masha, who survived the camps with her mother (Eros and Thanatos certainly go together here), and discovers his first wife (Tamara), who was shot with her children by the Einsatzgruppen and left for dead, is actually alive. Each represents a different facet of the catastrophe, conveniently divided among the New York boroughs. Anyone, by the way, who has read anything of Singer, including this book, would recognize his very typical take on male sexuality. I would advise viewers to see this film (or see it again) and think more deeply about what's at stake in this ironic tragicomedy than look for mindless and shallow entertainment.

Great movie. Lousy soundtrack remaster. Disappointing!!
I have to concur with another posted review. Played a rented DVD on my home 2-speaker system. The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is flat, muffled, and during several outdoor scenes, features a digital "howling" harmonic from background sound FX (street traffic, maybe?). It made the film difficult to listen to, and disappointing. The laserdisc release featured "Dolby Surround" audio (now called Dolby 2.0), which would indicate that someone messed this new release up in the transfer. Shameful.

Enemies - a Love Story
I have recently bought the video of this film and very much enjoyed it. The acting, direction, music and photography were all excellent. However, I do have one gripe and that is the sound quality. I had to re-run the tape several times to find out what the actors were saying. I don't know whether it's a sound fault or the actors mumbling. Whichever, it marred the film for me. I do love the film, though, and have played it several times.

Enemies : A Warner Bros. Ripoff
I don't know about anyone else but I bought this dvd having seen it when it was first in theatres and remember it being enjoyable. The story of a Jewish immigrant in New York who finds himself either married or invovled with three different women at the same time. So far so good but here's where my problem comes in. I put in the dvd ready to enjoy myself and I couldn't hear what was going on. The sound quality on this pressing was TERRIBLE! The music and dialogue kept going in and out and was muffled so bad that I didn't even get a chance to see 10 minutes of the movie. It says it was in dolby digital stereo and I have a surround sound system and I still couldn't hear without turning the volume way up and it still was muffled. I returned the movie and didn't bother getting another fearing they were all pressed the same way. Did anyone else run into this problem or did I just get a bad copy... ... Read more

Reviews (3)

the pickle
this movie sucked big time, trust me my uncle was in this movie and it sucked

(pause) Sour.
It's always good to watch performers like Danny Aiello, Shelley Winters, and Dyan Cannon in an imaginative enterprise...like this movie was supposed to be. Maybe "The Pickle" was to be Paul Mazursky's "Stardust Memories" [Woody Allen's highly personal and decidedly off-beat effort]. All three try to wring life out of an unfocused, one-note script, leaving the viewer with the uncomfortable feeling that the performances are merely drammatic exercises in an acting class.
The premise is interesting: Aiello, the serious director of "art" films can no longer make a buck doing 'em, so he is convinced that in order to keep the home fires burning he must...stretch a bit. Like make a all-out crowd-pleaser with all the trendy, commercial stuff you can think of, with a totally spaced out science fiction backdrop. So the burned out Director reaches into his own psyche for whatever feels right, whatever works. When he was a child he was rewarded with a nice juicy pickle. So a pickle takes on guargantuan proportions and seemingly human intelligence.
One depressing and pointless scene blends into the next.
While the premiere of the film takes place its' embarrassed Director attempts to take his life in a hotel room and Aiello's acting is strong, but again pretentiousness reduces the impact. Little Richard fans note that the Architect makes a second Mazursky appearance - the first being the '86 "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" with a production number of the 1956 recording of "Good Golly, Miss Molly".

¿More pickle juice!¿
Danny ("The Professional," "Jacob's Ladder") Aiello plays a once-respected director who whores himself out to do a big budget sci-fi action flick, hysterically rolling-out his anxieties, fears, and mid-life neuroses on the eve of the film's premiere. Shelly ("The Poseidon Adventure") Winters is Aiello's tough, no-nonsense mum, and the movie-in-a-movie is actually pretty cool, featuring Ally Sheedy, Griffin Dunne, and Little Richard as the president of an alien world, whose inhabitants eat only beef. "More pickle juice!" ... Read more

Amazon.com

On Golden Pond
Writer Ernest Thompson, who came up with the original stage play of On Golden Pond and adapted it for film, is lucky to have two giants of the screen give dignity and breadth to his sometimes trite dialogue. Henry Fonda, in his last role, plays a prickly English professor at the disagreeable age of 80. Visiting his summer house by a Maine lake with his wife (Katharine Hepburn), the old man forges an unlikely bond with a lonely boy, comes to terms with his daughter (Jane Fonda), and suffers disorienting effects of mild dementia. Even playing a tired old man, Fonda is an absolute lion of a movie star, and Hepburn brings her special spirit to the part of his worried bride. The onscreen relationship between Henry and Jane Fonda naturally makes one think about their much-discussed difficulties offscreen, but that's a side benefit in a movie that is really just a celebration of simple human decency. --Tom Keogh

Sophie's Choice
The sunny streets of Brooklyn, just after World War II. A young would-be writer named Stingo (Peter MacNicol) shares a boarding house with beautiful Polish immigrant Sophie (Meryl Streep) and her tempestuous lover, Nathan (Kevin Kline); their friendship changes his life. This adaptation of the bestselling novel by William Styron is faithful to the point of being reverential, which is not always the right way to make a film come to life. But director Alan J. Pakula (All the President's Men) provides a steady, intelligent path into the harrowing story of Sophie, whose flashback memories of the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp form the backbone of the movie. Streep's exceptional performance--flawless Polish accent and all--won her an Oscar, and effectively raised the standard for American actresses of her generation. No less impressive is Kevin Kline, in his movie debut, capturing the mercurial moods of the dangerously attractive Nathan. The two worlds of Sophie's Choice, nostalgic Brooklyn and monstrous Europe, are beautifully captured by the gifted cinematographer Néstor Almendros, whose work was Oscar-nominated but didn't win. It should have. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Package of Perfection!....
"On Golen Pond" and Sophie's Choice" are timeless films with enchanting actors, that once seen, will stay with you always.
Bravo to Artisan for putting together this package of perfection on these Special Edition DVDs at a reasonable price, for us to enjoy for years to come. I'll be focusing this review mainly on the DVDs because there is not much info here on the technical aspects of them, and I wanted to share with you what a good buy this is.. For those that have by some chance not seen these wonderful films, there is some great storyline info in the editor's reviews section.

The DVDs (Both in their own Keep case packaging), are beautifully
transfered. They are presented in widescreen on "reverse Spiral Dual Layer Discs",have an excellent picture with beautifully vivid colors, and the sound is fantastick in Dolby 2.0 surround.Special features include Director's commentary, a documentary, Production Notes, Cast and Crew info and have Spanish subtitles as well.
If you find these films as endearing as I do, you should be thrilled with the treament they recieved on these DVDs.

I should also mention that Henry Fonda, Kathryn Hepburn and Meryl Streep were all honored by Oscar for their outstanding work in these films.

The films, the stars, the DVDs equal a Package of Perfection. Don't pass this up...Enjoy...Laurie ... Read more