Lore
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Metascore
76 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Jordan Hoffman
    Feb 26, 2013
    100
    Lore is a rare, wonderful film that works not just as surface entertainment, but has deeper historical meaning, as well as an even grander, more universal statement.
  2. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Xan Brooks
    Feb 22, 2013
    80
    Australian director Cate Shortland's drama is overflowing with such poetic visual touches, conjuring up a fairytale landscape of long shadows, wafting curtains and waving fronds.
  3. New Orleans Times-Picayune
    Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    May 17, 2013
    80
    World War II dramas might be common enough, but, amid them all, Lore stands as an uncommon entry in the genre.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    Feb 7, 2013
    60
    Australian director Cate Shortland’s straightforward approach to the blinders worn by Hitler Youth creates a disconcerting and eerie film, made even more memorable since it’s seen through the prism of childhood’s end.

See all 28 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3
  1. wiggipop
    8
    Very well made film with a refreshing take on WWII. The strongest element of the film is how it is shot, there is beauty found in every frame. The story moves along at a good pace, filled with tension. Performances are good, especially from a mostly young cast, however the central character of Lore, played excellently by Saskia Lumenthal, was quite frustrating; there were moments where she needed a kick up the backside. Ultimately though, this is an impressive film.… Expand
  2. GreatMartin
    4
    Lore, (Saskia Rosendahl) is a teenager and the oldest of her siblings including her sister Liesel (Nele Trebs) and 3 brothers, twins Jurgen (Mika Seidel) and Gunther (Andre Frid) and still breast feeding baby Peter (Nick Leander Holaschke). It is Lore’s job, after their father, Vati, (Hans-Jochen Wagner) a Nazi officer, is arrested and their mother Mutti (Ursina Lardi), an admirer of Hitler, voluntarily goes into an internment camp, to take the children to their grandmother’s home 500 miles away crossing mountains, forests, rivers and passing through American and Russian barriers. The mother gives Lore anything she feels her daughter could trade for safety and food from the house silverware to her wedding ring knowing that she will never see her children or husband again..

    As Rodgers and Hammerstein so eloquently put it in a song many years ago, “You’ve Got To Be Taught” and Lore, along with her siblings, have been taught to hate all Jews and blame them for everything. As they travel they hear stories about Americans shooting prisoners and throwing them in graves and then producing pictures saying that they are Jews who were killed by Germans along with other atrocious tales that spins the truth on its head.

    Along their journey the children cross paths with Thomas (Kai Malina), a few years older than Lore, who carries papers identifying him as Jewish though he looks nothing like the man in the photograph. We know very little about Thomas nor will we find out anything except that he goes out of his way to help the 5 children and, more than once, putting his own life on the line. The screenplay by Robin Mukherjee and Cate Shortland, the latter also directing, hit a false note trying to make more out of Lore and Thomas than really makes sense. The moment that Lore lashes out at Thomas with anti-semitic barbs does ring true.

    The war has just ended, Hitler is dead and all that Lore has been taught to believe may not be true as she takes this journey across a land that shows little destruction as they go through outlying areas and forests.This is a film that comes from a different point of view and shows how innocent children become a part of the world they knew nothing about or dealt with because adults choose to go to war..

    Saskia Rosendahl does an excellent job as Lore, a child that is hard to like yet is on her way to becoming an adult in a world that may tear her apart. Kai Malina is as stoic as an actor can be but still shows in small ways how war affects all. The rest of the cast all exist in a world that at the moment hasn’t any answers but are afraid of what the answers may bring.

    The direction by Cate Shortland is almost a study in nature, both the good and bad, that surrounds humans but moves a little too slowly. “Lore” holds back too much information regarding Thomas and the grandmother that the children are looking forward to for their salvation hindering the story.    … Expand
  3. curtiswaters
    3
    This movie plods along and is very frustrating. Probably historically authentic poorly done writing and direction. This movie tries to show the dilemma between Nazi Germany and Jews, but can't seem to get out of its own way. I left the theater thinking I will never get this time back...… Expand

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