Watch The Last Train For Free

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is by far the best Holocaust related movie of them all. That it is basically unheard of in the English speaking world is both an absolute travesty, and in some ways - very befitting the content of the movie.The acting is - without exception - well above par. The cinematography superbly Oscar worthy and the direction flawless.But this is a HARD movie to watch - make no mistake about it. It is utterly devastating; I had to turn it off twice and compose myself before watching it again. That makes this, at least in my books, one of the bravest takes on this horrific period in history. My only singular criticism would be that the movie is not quite claustrophobic enough - the reality of the transportation trains by all accounts is that there was not even enough room to sit down - they had the carriages loaded so fully. But this is the last train to Auschwitz and populated with less than 700 Jews - so that may explain it. The transition from oppressed ghetto Jew to death camp deportee is very real and you are led through the journey in utter terror. You hope against hope for a happy ending - but as we all know - the journey to the death camp was just the beginning of the end for almost all the Jews who were sent to Auschwitz. It's a must watch film - even if for no other reason that to keep alive that awful stain on mankind lest it ever happens again - if you do nothing else in your life ever, watch this movie. I do not want to do any spoilers - but I would STRONGLY caution parents of very young children who might watch this movie. No pain is spared and there are some harrowing scenes, some truly truly harrowing scenes. I gave this the full ten for many reasons - but mostly because it is the best movie I have seen since "Let the Right One In" about 20 years ago.

"Der letzte Zug" or "The Last Train" is a German / Czech co-production from 2006, so this film has its 10th anniversary this year. The language used most in here is German, but others are heard too. The writer duo are Artur Brauner and Stephen Glantz and they may not be known to many I guess. The directors, however, are fairly famous, namely Joseph Vilsmaier and his now-deceased wife Dana Vávrová. The cast does not include too many well-known names, but German film buffs probably have come across Gedeon Burkhard and Sibel Kekilli already. With the topic in here, I must say I am a bit surprised this 2-hour film did not receive much more awards recognition outside the Bavarian Film Awards.Almost the entire film is set in a train that rides to the concentration camp Auschwitz, so yes this is another German movie set during the dark days of World War II. I also feel that it did not really offer anything new that has not been shown in older movies in terms of the relationship between Nazis and Jews and the killings of course. But I am interested in the subject, so this was not a problem at all for me. What makes this film stand out though is the background. This is not really about Jews trying to flee from Nazis in ghettos or trying to break free out of the camps. This is in-between, namely in the train and I think they did a good job here at finding a healthy balance in terms of telling stories and letting us get to know some characters while not focusing on others. It's a fine line, but Vilsmaier is walking it successfully here. Yes there are moments of heroism and tragedy that did not always feel authentic, but it's also difficult not to include these in a film with this topic and runtime. And being a huge Kekilli fan, I may also be a bit biased. But I think for a film over 120 minutes, there are really not many lengths in here and I would call it a success. Go see it if you are interested in German history of the 20th century.

I expected a hard film and I wasn't wrong. If you cannot digest suffering scenes this isn't for you. The story is well built and shows the countdown from the arrests until the arrival to the nightmare Ausschwitz. I was never boring because there were lot of moments where I have to think about. I still cannot believe that the humanity is able to do pains and kill so many innocent people but it's the truth. The history shows that the Jewish people have been always followed in the past and I can only pray for all the victims and children that have to die during the second World War. DER LETZTE ZUG has a great meaning for me and we should never forget what happened in the wars. All the actors played very strong and this movie should earn at least attention from all the audience. 7/10.

Basically it's just a train ride but you can feel the despair and increasing hopelessness people in there are facing on that last train that will eventually take them to Auschwitz and certain death. The acting of everyone is very convincing (esp. Lena Beyerling, Gedeon Burkhard and Sibell Kekilli). Even though some things that happen on the train are left to your imagination you end up having a pretty realistic idea (minus the smell, thirst, hunger, and the corpses) of how it must have been like inside those wagons - and still it's unbelievable. Seeing the ashes of dead Jews falling like snow, accompanied by Beethoven ('To joy') gives you the chills. The story might not be based on real characters but it's as close to the truth as it gets. Making the movie was a bold move, but it was worth making. Go see this movie, you won't regret it.