The Promise Review

Promise, The
Sophie (Becker) escapes the clutches of Communism by crawling through the sewers to the "Wild West", leaving behind her loved one Konrad (Zirner). After a turn on border patrol and then as an astrophysicist, he earns himself a visa to Prague - and a chance to see Sophie

by Leah Jewett |
Published on
Release Date:

06 Sep 1996

Running Time:

115 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

Promise, The

Tracking the progress and fragmented relationship of an East German couple from the origins of Communism to the demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1989, this Teutonic oddity proves to be a sprawling, but strangely hollow affair.

Kicking off in 1961, its heroine, Sophie (Becker) escapes the clutches of Communism by crawling through the sewers to the "Wild West", leaving behind her loved one Konrad (Zirner). After a turn on border patrol and then as an astrophysicist, he earns himself a visa to Prague - and a chance to see Sophie. However, while he has been fighting the good fight on the home front, Sophie has gone west to become a fashion designer. Ensnared by political circumstance, they meet only twice more before the wall falls.

Occasionally, the documentary-style footage of cities under siege - Prague in '68, the poignant construction of the Berlin Wall - makes for searing viewing. Beside it, the escapee narrative pales, and although the air is rife with simplistic personal themes and sweeping political causes, the characters remain stilted, never managing to impart the true emotion that this kind of material yearns for and only a handful of images really strike home.

Oddly passionless and strangely shallow in the telling, Von Trotta's film never gets to the heart of what could have been a powerful story of great divides, and the dualities of a couple rent asunder by political disruption. It's a promise that remains unfulfilled.

Oddly passionless and strangely shallow in the telling
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