Habermann's Mill

People are swine, and it doesn't really matter what their nationality is. The film captures a dark period in human history and also a dark period in Czech history. Yes, Germans were monsters during the war, but after the war, monsters also emerged from other places. Yes, war may be to blame, but perhaps it is also human nature and the attempt to define justice as an eye for an eye when no one is watching. The finale of the film is epically cruel. (06/11/2014)

To tell you the truth, Habermann's Mill was a very pleasant surprise. The craftsmanship is very professional, Roden is charismatic and the emotions are fairly strong. Unfortunately, it has a couple of the typical problems of modern Czech cinema, like some toe-curling dialogues and the terrible post-synchronisation… but the overall impression left by Herz’s film is very positive. (28/11/2010)

Getting to know the characters and the period atmosphere in the first third promises a great drama of Western European quality with Oscar ambitions. This potential, however, somehow fades away during the rest of the film. The writing of the list was supposed to be the key scene of the film that would turn the remaining running time into an unforgettable dramatic inferno. It turned out to be only a partial success. Nevertheless, the film remains very decent – the actors, costumes, set designs and camerawork are all flawless. I thought hard about giving it four stars. (02/01/2011)

A very good film, not only by Czech standards. Great actors, Herz's direction supported by excellent cinematography and Cmiral's haunting music, and an interesting story, which is unfortunately quite easy to predict. Habermann's Mill could easily have been a bit longer to give more space to some of the characters (yes, I mean for example Kaiser and Stránský). (31/03/2011)

It’s good that we are making films that deal with the darkest period of this country’s modern history, and we can be even more pleased that they are as good as Habermann's Mill – excellent filmmaking with superb actors and a perfectly flowing story. In my opinion, as someone who can only imagine the horrors of the Second World War through documentaries, the atmosphere of that dark era is flawless and, overall, the slightly more "intimate" Czech production is the cornerstone of its success. The film's only, but fatal weakness is that it fails to psychologically grip and dramatically escalate its key moments, so that the otherwise honest production momentarily shifts from the mode of cold-blooded, Oscar-hungry demonstration of (in)humanity to a rawer visual one... Nevertheless, well deserved 4*. (28/05/2012)