SOPHIE’S CHOICE (DVD MOVIE)The sunny streets of Brooklyn, just after World War II. A young would-be writer named Stingo (Peter MacNicol) shares a boarding house with beautiful Polish immigrant Sophie (Meryl Streep) and her tempestuous lover, Nathan (Kevin Kline); their friendship changes his life. This adaptation of the bestselling novel by William Styron is faithful to the point of being reverential, which is not always the right way to make a film come to life. But director Alan J. Pakula (All the President’s Men) provides a steady, intelligent path into the harrowing story of Sophie, whose flashback memories of the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp form the backbone of the movie. Streep’s exceptional performance–flawless Polish accent and all–won her an Oscar, and effectively raised the standard for American actresses of her generation. No less impressive is Kevin Kline, in his movie debut, capturing the mercurial moods of the dangerously attractive Nathan. The two worlds of Sophie’s Choice, nostalgic Brooklyn and monstrous Europe, are beautifully captured by the gifted cinematographer Néstor Almendros, whose work was Oscar-nominated but didn’t win. It should have. –Robert Horton
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March 22, 2008
#1
Well i gave it a chance but sorry, it simply was too slow for my taste. While Meryl Streep was brilliant as Sophy the story simply dragged along and I lost interest. I may go back and see the edning but I highly doubt it. If there is a compelling story here, or message I did not see it. It would have been better to skip some of the unnecessary scenes and draw the viewr in from the beginning rather then slow pace it along. It may have been great for 82, but for today’s fast pace audience it doesn’t work very well. I had to put on Friday the 13th, afterwards in order not to feel cheated out of watching a video, now there is a film with action!
March 22, 2008
#2
meryl streep DOES give a great performance, but this is just a bit too downbeat for me. all those nazis, y’know? and as an aside, the commentary is the worst ive ever heard on a dvd, being recorded at the same volume level as the dialog, rendering BOTH unlistenable.
March 23, 2008
#3
What I saw of the movie was fine, but the DVD would not play beyond the 25th chapter of the movie in any player I tried. Anyone else have that problem?
March 23, 2008
#4
The only good thing about this movie was Meryl Streep (who deserves 5 stars). I was looking forward watching this movie (when I got it) but I was very disappointed!
March 23, 2008
#5
I just watched Sophie’s Choice, and if I didn’t know who Meryl Streep was or if this was the first movie I had seen her in, I would have thought she was Jewish. She does not play a jew in the movie, she plays a woman from Poland, but she looks and talks just like a jew. She was absolutely perfect. Her actions, her vocabulary, her accent. It was all quite wonderful.
But, I sobbed for about twenty minutes after watching it. I’m sorry I don’t have anything witty to say about the movie, but I would DEFINITELY recommend it.