This is a very difficult movie to watch. I had to turn it off more than once to compose myself and remind myself that although this is reality - I am just watching a movie.The acting is utterly utterly flawless. The subject matter harrowing and poignant. The script is without equal. I really feel this movie makes other masterpieces like Schindler's List pale by comparison. It's hard to try and review something like this - but I think that it is a largely unnoticed movie is shameful.I would recommend this to anyone and part of me feels Europe would fair better if it abolished the laws prohibiting revisionism and made this movie mandatory school viewing instead.Cannot rate it highly enough. An utterly amazing movie with zero faults.

"Der letzte Zug" or "The Last Train" is a German / Czech co-production from 2006, so this film has its 10th anniversary this year. The language used most in here is German, but others are heard too. The writer duo are Artur Brauner and Stephen Glantz and they may not be known to many I guess. The directors, however, are fairly famous, namely Joseph Vilsmaier and his now-deceased wife Dana Vávrová. The cast does not include too many well-known names, but German film buffs probably have come across Gedeon Burkhard and Sibel Kekilli already. With the topic in here, I must say I am a bit surprised this 2-hour film did not receive much more awards recognition outside the Bavarian Film Awards.Almost the entire film is set in a train that rides to the concentration camp Auschwitz, so yes this is another German movie set during the dark days of World War II. I also feel that it did not really offer anything new that has not been shown in older movies in terms of the relationship between Nazis and Jews and the killings of course. But I am interested in the subject, so this was not a problem at all for me. What makes this film stand out though is the background. This is not really about Jews trying to flee from Nazis in ghettos or trying to break free out of the camps. This is in-between, namely in the train and I think they did a good job here at finding a healthy balance in terms of telling stories and letting us get to know some characters while not focusing on others. It's a fine line, but Vilsmaier is walking it successfully here. Yes there are moments of heroism and tragedy that did not always feel authentic, but it's also difficult not to include these in a film with this topic and runtime. And being a huge Kekilli fan, I may also be a bit biased. But I think for a film over 120 minutes, there are really not many lengths in here and I would call it a success. Go see it if you are interested in German history of the 20th century.

The film is good, but somewhat sluggish. On the one hand something always happens, on the other — there's no sense of dynamics, nor feeling of hanging emotions. Music is not quite appropriate. It doesn't help enough, it's too subtle. Acting is good. May be not superb, but good enough to believe in characters. I suppose the main guilt for film being not excellent lies on director. For example, the scene with 'Ode to Joy' must have been made more dramatic, the acting there was (or could be) very good, so, the problem is in directing. May be my expectations were not right and the idea was to make one feel the ordinariness of evil. Nonetheless I want something more than just depiction of historical evil. And I see no answers, even no honestly stated questions. May be, though, my willing to get that questions is a good result of watching the film?

I expected a hard film and I wasn't wrong. If you cannot digest suffering scenes this isn't for you. The story is well built and shows the countdown from the arrests until the arrival to the nightmare Ausschwitz. I was never boring because there were lot of moments where I have to think about. I still cannot believe that the humanity is able to do pains and kill so many innocent people but it's the truth. The history shows that the Jewish people have been always followed in the past and I can only pray for all the victims and children that have to die during the second World War. DER LETZTE ZUG has a great meaning for me and we should never forget what happened in the wars. All the actors played very strong and this movie should earn at least attention from all the audience. 7/10.