Der Turm (3¾ Stars)

The title of this film means "The Tower" in English. It's named after an area in the city of Dresden, and the main characters live in the Turmstraße, the "Tower Street". The film follows the life of a family from 1982 to 1989 in the claustrophobic atmosphere of East Germany. In the picture above we see Richard Hoffman, a surgeon, with his wife, his son and his lover. Richard does everything that's expected of him in his position: he's a member of the Socialist Party and encourages his son to follow in his footsteps, but in truth he has no interest in politics. All he wants to do is be promoted to the boss of his hospital and keep his love affair secret.

The film is based on a best-selling German novel that was published in 2008. The film has been highly praised by critics, but I couldn't relate to the story. The film is three hours long, which was at least an hour too long for me. It wasn't until the second half that I began to get interested in it.