QB VII (1974)

This is an odd film/miniseries to discuss. In one hand, I don't want our small readership to believe that I harbor any ill will towards the Jewish people OR what tragically happened during the Holocaust, but in the same sense, I do want to express my feelings against this very strange miniseries. Let's begin with a bit of history, QB VII was/is considered one of the original pioneers of the miniseries. With lush landscapes, elongated story, and big named stars - this film ushered in what we now consider everyday television on stations like HBO, Cinemax, or even the Sci-fi network. Basically, there would be no "Battlestar Galactica", no "Angels in America", no "Temple Grandin" to merely name a few. The television world opened anew with this one title, and for that - applause happens. BUT, this isn't the greatest cinematic wonder. Anthony Hopkins and Ben Gazzara play well against each other, but the ultimate question becomes ... WHY? The answer to that comes in the form of another question. Why didn't it? With two great powerhouses leading us down a very poignant road, but the story becomes too muddied, to jumbled with length that by the end, the sympathy has shifted in the wrong direction. Who are we, as audience members, supposed to be rooting for by the end? Now don't be surprised, but by the end, I was rooting for Hopkins.

Was it better editing? Did Hopkins garner more sympathy because we focused on him longer? Was Gazzara just portrayed as this bitter man? At the end of this movie, I hated Gazzara. I hated what he had done to Hopkins' character. While it was obvious that Hopkins was this evil Holocaust doctor who performed horrid experiments onto innocent people, but by the end of this movie, I felt Hopkins felt remorse for what he had done, the actual story had become so blurred that there was a part of me that just felt that Gazzara was just hateful instead of striding for justice. Is that the purpose of this film? Were we to see the human side of evil? Were we to see that two guys who never knew each other suddenly clashed in the courthouse over the word? Was I bamboozled by the entire film and was it supposed to be merely an anagram for getting your comeuppance? Why do I have a million questions with this film? As this film rattles around in my mind, I need to be more subjective in my reasoning for questioning the validity of this film. I think the actual story itself is amazing. This doctor, who obviously did extremely wrong things under Nazi control, must now 50 years later, pay for his crimes. Brought down by a snot-nosed writer who seemingly hates everyone (and I hated him). The production of QB VII was beautiful. The places that this film took you was amazing. While we traveled to this lush locations, keep in mind, we followed Hopkins' character of Kelno. We watch his family grow, we see them overcome hurdles, meanwhile Gazzara is throwing his life in the garbage, yet he is the victor?

I will stop with the questions. I now realize I am not going to get anywhere of value with this review, the questions that I have with this movie are just going to overtake anything of value that I say. I notice this film also has quite a bit of positive comments. Was I the only one that saw this huge problem? Again, I realize the power of the story behind the story, but our filmmakers lost the focus. I mean, completely lost the focus. I think we should have focused more on the courtroom drama, the tension between Hopkins and Gazzara should have been stronger. The defined bad/good guy should have been there. I should have been angry at Hopkins instead of Gazzara, but it just wasn't that way. Again, this was a strong idea - the courtroom drama scenes were tense, Hopkins grabbed you with his idioms, but the rest, the filler - the points A to B - were just mediocre at best. Overall, what turned out to be nearly three hours should have merely been two and the same result would have profited.

Found in my "Videohound 2009" book, QB VII took too long to watch, but the end result was decent. I liked Hopkins (if you couldn't tell), but maybe it is just the acting style of Gazzara, but I couldn't see him as our anti-hero. His life was in shambles, he was an uncontrollable wild card, and that forced "love" between he and his son at the end felt more schmaltzy than true. I liked the premise of this film, but the final execution really faltered. In the end, I think I could slightly suggest this film merely to show the raw power of Anthony Hopkins, but the rest just felt dated and boring. this was no Conspiracy (see made-for-TV movie with Branagh//Tucci). It is getting a pink mark. Good, not great - definitely not re-watchable.