Very well executed

Truly the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater

So much average

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This is supposedly based upon a true story. maybe the part that is true is that the Russians didn't have enough space for all their prisoners, and just dumped four dozen in a lightly staffed women's prison.Starring Thomas Kretschmann, who managed six roles in 2008 including Wanted and Valkyrie in addition to this one. Also featuring Vera Farmiga (The Departed), who only had four roles in 2008, including The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. She has a deal with the prison Commandant, played by John Malkovich, to protect her lover from being sent to the front. Also along is Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds, The Bourne Ultimatum, 2 Days in Paris, Joyeux Noël), always a welcome addition.It was definitely a dark and depressing film, made the more so by the constant snow. There are some SS Officers in the mix and Pavlov (Malkovich) is determined to root them out and hang them. He enlists Natalia (Farmiga) for this task. Malkovich was born for roles like this.It is strange the the women who hated the prisoners in the beginning for killing their families manage to find forgiveness at the end so they can have sex.It was the acting, not the script that made this worthwhile.

Excellent movie. Amazing performance by Thomas Kretschmann (as always). It's hard to see this gorgeous man dressed in drags and looks like hell half of the movie. The love scene of him with the nurse is so touching. The whole movie is a chilling and depressing experience until towards the last 30 minutes of the film. The only part that puzzles me is that after the "party" organized by the kind-hearted Jew, why were those Russian women so enthralled with the German POW's? Just after one or two dances? The pain and suffering of the war all thrown out of the window? Or, it's because so many Russian men had been killed that these women were simply man-hungry? It's a great movie in the same class of "the Pianist", go watch it!

IN TRANZIT is one of those forgotten films the viewer wants to love: an all but unknown bit of history based on a true story that offers a different insight into the universal damage inflicted upon all peoples by WW II. The problem with this production is the embarrassingly weak script by Natalia Portonova and Simon van der Borgh, the unfocused direction by Tom Roberts and the bumpy editing by Paul Carlin. Beautifully photographed by Sergei Astakhov in a manner that emphasizes the brutality of Russian winters, setting a perfect matrix for the drama, this film had potential, but even the isolated acting contributions of a few seasoned actors cannot hide the weak script and the annoying pacing. 1946 and a Russian Women's prisoner of war camp lays unused until it is determined by one evil Russian officer Pavlov (John Malkovich) that it will become a camp for German prisoners of war to ferret out occult members of the Nazi SS group that inflicted such agony on the Russians. The camp is run by a group of angry Russian women soldiers and one Russian physician Natalia (Vera Farmiga) who together with Citizen Zina (Natalie Press) represent the humanistic side of the suffering Russian victims of the German brutality. And so it is German men, including the handsome Max (Thomas Kretschmann) who shares a mutual attraction with Natalia and the enigmatic Klaus (Daniel Brühl) among others, versus the Russian women: role reversal and gender dominance changes create the drama. One key mute figure is Andrei (the brilliant Russian actor Yevgeni Mironov), the psychologically damaged husband of Natalia, who in many ways represents the tragedy of the entire WW II on mankind. How these two groups of people interact and survive the conditions imposed on them forms the story. Though Farmiga and Kretschmann, Press and Mironov overcome the awkward script in an attempt to suffuse this film with palpable tragedy, the result is a bumpy ride through the obvious pitfalls of amateur film-making. It could have been an important film, but is remains a minor though interesting insight as to the extended effects of war on people's psyches. Grady Harp

Yikes! Just watched it in Russian. Fortunately I speak enough Russian to understand the voice-over; wish they had kept it in the original English and just added Russian subtitles. Kretschmann, Bruhl, Farmiga and Press all give excellent performances; Evegeny Mironov does the most amazing "silent" performance since his Russian version of Kafka's "Metamorphosis". I have no doubt that anti-German sentiment was running high in 1946 in Leningrad; nevertheless, surely there was some hope or ray of sunshine in all the gloom. I am beginning to understand why this film was not marketed in America. Unless you lived through those times, or are a student of history, the subject matter of this film may not have much appeal. Still, for you history buffs out there, don't miss some fine acting in this film.