NVA (2005) Reviews

• Feeble and dishonest

  pawebster2005-10-02

  What a shame. This could have been good. The main problems are the script and the star. The film cannot decide whether to be a slapstick comedy (of a very uninspired and routine kind) or whether to be a insightful satire on the old East Germany and its mores. Its attempts at the latter flop totally, however. The film does not hold together well and the ending is very artificial and unbelievable. Any stereotypes one might have about German comedy are sadly reinforced. The characters are stereotypes one and all, and the leading character, played by Kim Frank, is colourless in the extreme. He just cannot carry the film and appears to have been chosen largely for his baby face. It may not be all the actor's fault (he is a pop singer), as the script does not give him much to work on. One plus -- the recreation of the East German 'style' and period is good. The worst thing is that the film feels somehow dishonest and demeaning. The film seems to have been churned out by people who were not necessarily giving it their best and just wanted to make a quick buck from a few cheap laughs. (If they were giving it their best, it is a sad case indeed!) I watched it at the cinema with an East German audience and I felt sorry for them. The GDR regime was awful in almost all respects, but those who lived through it deserve better than this.

• This movie wasn't worth the money

  mikklm2005-10-14

  I didn't expect too much from this movie, but I was still disappointed. It's supposed to be a comedy, but there are only four or five scenes where I actually laughed, and I think that's rather poor. There is no real plot either, I always had the feeling that most of the scenes could have been put anywhere in the movie because there's no connection between them. But the worst thing was the "acting" of Kim Franke. He has ONE facial expression during the whole movie, as if he was supposed to play some retarded guy, but I believe that's not the case. All in all I rate it four out of ten, I've seen worse movies than this, but I wouldn't spend money on this one again.

• Less than mediocre

  Tribble-22006-04-30

  As was mentioned before in other comments, the major problem of NVA is that it cannot decide what it wants to be, slapstick of the cheapest kind or an honest parody of the East German Army. There are a couple of moments which are quite moving, for example when one of the recruits returns from the army prison in Schwedt with a completely broken personality. But in the end, Leander Haußmann goes for the infantile humour. No wonder the film flopped at the German box office as it's historically untruthful to the real situation in those training camps and led by an actor who is unfortunately incapable of giving a nuanced performance. However, there is the camera work of Frank Griebe who - as always - does a wonderful job. If it wasn't for his beautiful images I would have rated the film far worse.

• Finally a military comedy which is not from the USA

  leverkuehn2005-09-21

  NVA combines eastalgia-humor, military comedy and teen movie. Although it is somehow typically German-movie-like sentimental, I think it's a great and very funny movie. You will not only laugh in NVA but also get a bit of an insight in the Eastern Germany armed forces of the late 1980ies and how the young recruits as well as the professional soldiers experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the German Democratic Republic. You will enjoy NVA if you liked Sonnenallee (another movie directed by Leander Haußmann), but not necessarily if you enjoyed Good Bye Lenin which is much more serious and less obviously funny. The acting is acceptable. But watch for former boy band singer Kim Frank who has only two facial expressions: natural and shocked saucer-eyed!

• Nice try but not as good as it could have been!

  zuriel2005-09-29

  Here's a short summary of N.V.A: Jung Henrik Heidler (Kim Fischer) wants to serve his time in the military as inconspicuous as possible. His comrade Krüger (Oliver Bröcker) in contrast will try anything to oppose his superiors and prove that he is definitely not a soldier. But none of these two strategies comes out even: Henriks girlfriend brakes up and he falls in love, again, with in another girl, while his friend and comrade Krüger has to pay the price for his rebellious behavior towards his superiors and their ideology. My comment: Well, I just saw this movie and I must say I it didn't really knock me off my feet. It has some funny moments in it but all in all I can tell that it's not really my kind of humor. The jokes are not subtle enough as I would have liked it in connection with the topic, everything is just too obvious and that seems to make it a comedy that is too much dull. The topic itself, I think, is good and interesting but the film couldn't convert this properly. I always have lived in West Germany so I don't really have an appropriate idea about the NVA. But I can imagine that these jokes are based on actual customs and probably experiences of Leander Haußmann. So, if you forget the jokes this might be a good and authentic movie about serving time in the NVA . But one thing that was really, really bad in this film was the acting of Kim Fischer. You see, this guy is the singer of a German pop band named "Echt". His music is not my taste either but this is just the way I feel about it. But this guy just shouldn't act and I am sure that everybody who saw this movie will agree. Maybe he just needs some more practice and experience (this is his first film). But he definitely wasn't ready to play a leading part in a big German blockbuster when they shot NVA . Altogether I give it 5 points.