Best movie of this year hands down!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

"Comedian Harmonists" or "The Harmonists" is a German(-language) film from 1997, so this one will have its 20th anniversary next year. The director is Joseph Vilsmaier and the script comes from Jürgen Büscher and Klaus Richter. If you know a bit about History, especially German history of the 20th century, then you will maybe also heard of the Comedian Harmonists, a music group who were really famous in the first half of the century with their a capella music. They probably weren't the most talented singers in terms of range or particularly high notes or volume of their voices, but they found their niche and succeeded in entertaining the audiences with funny texts and a little bit of wisdom too. The big problem: They were Jewish.This film won big at the German Film Award, including lead actor for Noethen and supporting actress for Becker. Her brother Ben also plays in here and their dad Otto Sander has a brief cameo too. And last but not least the movie won German Film of the Year, even if it was not picked as Germany's submission to the Oscars back then. Maybe the Harmonists just weren't known enough abroad or they were scared that the Hamonists would fail again in the United States as their attempts to make it there were not successful, after they had to leave Germany. I personally like some of the songs of this band that the film is about. But not all of them are used in here. I would say the music is the only aspect that was pretty good in here. The acting was mostly forgettable I felt and the script also wasn't great.I do not think that this film really stands out compared to all the other many many German films that are about the days of Hitler Germany. I think they missed a chance here as the Comedian Harmonists were a pretty unique band, still are today and people here in Germany know them very well and many still like them with their wit and nice texts. Sadly, they did not really manage to elaborate on all the Harmonists convincingly. I just did not care about some of them at all. And they also could have been played by better actors. Ferch is mostly forgettable and Becker is very much in your face, but lacks subtlety and it's also not a good performance. Noethen is decent, but not really awards-worthy. The rest is entirely forgettable and this makes me especially sad in Schafmeister's case as I quite like him. This film certainly goes on long enough to deliver a convincing film and make every character count, but the screenwriters did not succeed. Many people consider this Vilsmaier's most known, possibly best work, but I cannot agree. It dragged on too many occasions and the nice music alone is not enough. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

I wanted to rent this film because of the subject matter -- the great German singing group The Comedian Harmonists, who are still popular in Europe 75 years after the events depicted in this film.Alas, while I watched it, the sadness set in as I started to realize the inevitable was going to hit me square in the eyes.Simply put, you just can't combine these words -- the 1930s, Germany, three Jews -- without being stung by outrage, sadness, astonishment: pick your adjective. You just KNOW what's going to happen before it happens. It's too bad, but this kind of situation becomes ultimately very predictable. This is not to say that the film isn't worth seeing -- it is. There is brilliant acting, splendid sets, a wonderful (and brutally sinister) 1930s Nazi-era 'feel,' and, of course, the music (via the dubbed, original Harmonists themselves), which is nothing short of sublime. I think I'm going to stop watching films set in 1930s' Germany that involves Jewish characters. It was just too crushingly depressing a period. In this film, three tremendously talented Jews in the Harmonists sextet are victimized simply because they're Jews. This is a microcosm of the millions of great talents that were destroyed in 1930s-40s Europe simply because they were born 'non-Aryan,' as the Nazi euphemism would have it.One note: a reviewer here has commented on the wildly incongruous DVD cover, which shows a cabaret-style babe in heavy lipstick peeping out from a top hat. It's obviously a ploy to attract viewers into thinking they're going to see some sexy stuff with hot dancers, when no such thing exists. Shame on those who decided to do this cover. It's really an insult to the basic subject matter of the film.

That piece has to be one of my favorite movies of all time. It isn`t that much of a documentary but it`s a fine music film about an astonishing band and more than that, it shows the fearful end of friendship and art the nazis caused with their ways. Everybody should see it, even if you don`t know the group, they do represent the heights of German culture, right before the anti-culturals rose to power. And Germany never recovered...

Telling the tale of a true sextet of German singers who just happen to start their group just before the Nazis begin taking over Germany. It shows their struggle to start and their eventual success and how it affects them and their women and wives. It certainly is a movie which ever one should see, and I will always wonder why this movie was not nominated for an oscar.