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Viggo Mortensen stars as John Halder, an apolitical professor with family problems in 1930s Germany, who writes a personal work about compassionate euthanasia. When the messages of his book are manipulated for political purposes by the Nazi government, his career takes off on a wave of nationalist euphoria, and somehow, Halder finds himself a member of the SS.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Despite its flaws, the film retains a theoretical power to which Mortensen's performance is well attuned. The script is good at positing a credible idea of why someone like Halder might turn to the Nazis - pragmatism, moral weakness, personal crisis, flattery - and sensitive in exploring the personal ramifications of that decision. (Verdict: three stars out of six)Nigel Andrews, Financial Times: Brazilian director Vicente Amorim pushes Viggo Mortensen (conscience-stricken professor), Jason Isaacs (tormented Jewish psychoanalyst) and Jodie Whittaker (Third Reich bimbo) around the screen like backgammon pieces. Each is wooden; each goes through his appointed squares; sometimes one removes another from the board. There is life only in the hands that move them and not much even there. (Verdict: one star out of five)Anthony Quinn, the Independent: Bad... Vicente Amorim's film never shakes its stagey origins, or its self-importance. Only Jason Isaacs, as a Jewish friend who appeals to Halder's conscience, makes a mark, his account of quiet desperation a notable contrast to the loud overacting elsewhere. Mortensen isn't bad, though he looks merely absent-minded rather than anguished. (Verdict: one star out of five) ·