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Fateless
ThinkFilm Inc.


8.4

based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 25 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Marcell Nagy, Béla Dóra, Bálint Péntek, Áron Dimény, Péter Fancsikai, Zsolt Dér, András M. Kecskés, and Dani Szabó

Fateless is based on the moving and disturbing novel by 2002 Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertész about a Hungarian Jewish boy's experiences in German concentration camps and his attempts to reconcile himself to those experiences after the war. (ThinkFilm)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Imre Kertész
DIRECTED BY:	Lajos Koltai
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 9, 2006 Theatrical: January 6, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	136 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Hungary / Germany / UK
LANGUAGE(S):	Hungarian / German (with English subtitles)

Original title "Sorstalanság"; Nominated, Golden Berlin Bear, 2005 Berlin International Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

This is a Holocaust movie that is so relentlessly observed and so aware of woe that it never feels like it belongs to a genre.

100

TV Guide Ken Fox

This exceptional film features some of the most beautiful cinematography ever seen on film, in service of some of the most horrible images imaginable.

100

New York Post Kyle Smith

Profound and majestic.

100

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

One of the greatest of all Holocaust films.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

A hauntingly poetic triumph.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Fateless is a strangely beautiful film, enhanced by a typically lyrical Ennio Morricone score and by Koltai's hazy, grayed-out images.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

In the juxtaposition of cataclysmic matter-of-fact misery and cinematic poetry, the filmmaker finds a calmly stunning way to convey the experience of living with death as something intimate, and, unnervingly, almost natural.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Like "The Pianist," Fateless painstakingly builds up the reality of what it is like to be drawn into a perfectly arbitrary hell you can neither comprehend nor rationalize.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

A first-rate contribution to the Holocaust canon.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Koltai is an accomplished, Oscar-nominated cinematographer (for 2000's "Malena"), and Fateless is meticulously composed and shot.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

Fateless is both haunting and poetic. It also is visually stunning.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

It represents something stranger and, to those of us with only a secondhand or thirdhand knowledge of that history, more disturbing: a survivor's conviction that there were aspects of the experience itself that can only be described as beautiful.

Variety Eddie Cockrell

Exquisitely modulated and superbly mounted, the directing debut of skilled cinematographer Lajos Koltai went through an extended, unpredictable production history to emerge as a genuinely new way of looking at the Holocaust that is markedly different in tone from other such stories including "Schindler's List" and "The Pianist."

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Fateless has a remarkable absence of sentimentality. The movie is obviously artistic, but there are no cheap or superfluous effects. It's almost mystically translucent.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

It contains little that will be new to any informed viewer; yet it fascinates for all of its 140 minutes.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's a work that sears the heart and conscience. The events are annihilating, the way they're told both beautiful and terrifying.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Fateless looks man's inhumanity to man square in the eye and pronounces it standard operating procedure, and that may be the greater horror.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

This unique and devastating look at the Holocaust is drawn from the autobiographical novel of 2002 Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertesz.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

At first startling, even disengaging, that strange style eventually dovetails with the awful substance.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Accomplishes the near impossible, bringing a fresh perspective to a horrific subject.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

The film never lacks dignity. Fateless doesn't look at life at the camp like Roberto Benigni did in "Life is Beautiful."

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The film's power also lies in the honesty of its observation. Though Gyuri survives unfathomable horrors, he can't forget them and, in the end, doesn't want to. They're the only history he has.

Empire Steve O'Hagan

Holocaust drama shot like costume drama, creating a sense of aesthetic disharmony.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

Viewers still need a window into a character's soul if they are to connect on a deep emotional level. And that is missing here.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Long, heavy, and not particularly edifying Holocaust drama.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Robert T. gave it a1:
Pretentious shooting, struggling actors, unbearable.

Alisha T, gave it a10:
The cinematography was amazing. This movie moved me beyond words. Seeing atrocities being carried out in a concentration camp through the eyes of a young boy in his teens made me weep. Its an intense tale of survival through unimaginable situations.

justin s. gave it a10:
The cinematography is incredible. Just a really moving and haunting movie, one you truly won't forget. The ending was amazing; I won't give it away, but Nagy says something that totally changes your perception of what happened to him. Terrific acting by him. This movie should be a strong contender for best foreign film, if not best film.

Melissa H gave it a10:
This was such an amazing movie both in its harsh and realistic depiction of the holocaust but also the beauty in the filming...one of the best movies I have seen in a long, long time

Julie M. gave it a10:
Very beautiful cinematically as well as poetic and tasteful. Marcell Nagy was the perfect actor for the role and his portrayal will haunt me for a long time. I haven't seen a movie so well filmed in a very long time.

Maximus gave it a7:
Thouse reviewer's who gives movie, any movie rating 100 should be fired. There is no perfect movie and there will never be as this is not a perfect movie.

Jenney L. gave it a0:
I dont know where all these high points are coming from. I just saw it on pay per view only because of these reviews. You guys suck for leading me so wrong. If you havent seen it, dont waste you time

Fateless ThinkFilm Inc.

Fateless
ThinkFilm Inc.