![]() ![]() The film repeatedly broaches Stefan’s culpability in the horrors of the Nazi regime – the “stain” left by the hastily-taken-down portraits of “him” are a recurring visual and thematic motif. There is something faintly uncomfortable in how The Aftermath approaches the character of Stefan. The Aftermath has both Lewis and Stefan assert that all they really wanted during the Second World War was for it “to be over.” Perhaps hoping to strike a fragile peace with the city’s inhabitants, perhaps just tired of living in a constant state of war, Lewis Morgan invites Stefan and his daughter to remain in the house. Rachael has just arrived in Hamburg from the United Kingdom, her husband playing a major role in providing security for British forces working within Germany. As befitting a movie set in Germany and dealing with notions of guilt and culpability, Stefan is an architect. The central dynamic in The Aftermath is the tension that exists between Rachael Morgan and Stefan Lubert. The Aftermath aspires to be a story of a simmering cold war, but is completely lacking any spark. ![]() The Aftermath has an engaging central performance from Keira Knightley, but it suffers from a lack of chemistry between its three leads and a truly terrible management of tone. Instead, it offers a clichéd romantic triangle melodrama against this backdrop, offering a decidedly trashy narrative within the trappings of prestige. Indeed, it often struggles to articulate them. The Aftermath doesn’t really answer these questions. What is it like to surrender one’s home to an occupying force, but to linger there as a guest – or maybe a ghost? What is like to be surrounded by a people who were once bent on conquest and domination, but now find themselves at the mercy of the nations they tried to subjugate? Given the trauma that both sides inflicted upon one another and the scars that still sting, forcing a British and German family to live in close proximity while those wounds are still fresh should lead to incredible drama. Reconciliation is always a challenge, particularly when dealing with a catastrophe on the scale of the Second World War. It is one thing to fight a war, it is another to end it. This is an intensely charged set-up, and one with a lot of potential. When the Morgans move into a stately home on the outskirts of the city, Lewis suggests that the German family might remain there rather than being relocated to “the camps.” As a result, the two sides find themselves living under the same roof British and German, occupied and occupier, winner and loser. ![]() Rachel finds herself confronting these wounds even more acutely than she expected. Both sides are nursing old wounds that threaten to fester. ![]() Most of the city lies in ruins, bodies still being pulled from the rubble. Unfolding in the immediate wake of the Second World War, The Aftermath finds Rachael Morgan joining her husband Lewis Morgan in Hamberg for the British Occupation of the city. The Aftermath starts with a fascinating premise. Given the high volumes of films being shown and the number of reviews to be written, these may end up being a bit shorter than usual reviews. This film was seen as part of the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival 2019. ![]()
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