Westler [1986]

Customer Reviews:

Very convincing.......2007-10-24

Westler has to be THE most depressing story about impossible gay love ever filmed. I was fascinated throughout, but the bleakness of life in Berlin in those years made me feel uneasy. This is certainly not the best gay movie ever, but it is one of the more impressive. The bad and grainy quality of the images only enhance the gritty truth. And as a time document it absolutely has its value. I would have given it 5 stars as the film really moved me, were it not for technical faults. My 4 stars are certainly well-deserved.

weird, confusing but rather sweet.......2007-09-29

I was confused by the beginning of the film when the West Berliner was in LA with his friend Bruce...how would the East Berliner come to be there??? Perhaps that was the point - he could never be there.

Onwards to Berlin and Bruce wants to cross the wall and have a look at East Berlin. The actual shots in the East were taken with a super-8 camera sans sound, so we see a lot, but hear nothing but the tinny (terrible) music as the two go about their sightseeing. The part were the two protagonists see each other and ultimately meet were rather bizarre I found, and a bit cringeworthy.

Getting over my confusion as to exactly what was happening and why, this film is important in a historical context; it shows how East and West differed, how it might be difficult even for a West Berliner to keep on going over to the other side and, ultimately, it tells us just exactly what people were prepared to do to escape.

The plot is very basic and there is a lack of sophistication in this film which is both endearing and irritating. It stands as a good reminder to those of us who do have the freedom to move around as we will that not everyone is as lucky. Otherwise, it's a bit lacking.

Bit dated but very atmospheric.......2006-06-03

i suppose to some people this was a "beautiful thing" for their generation, and its certainly evocative of the era. I had problems keeping track of what was going on (and no i was sober) and why, mostly because there was no sense of time passing just leaps from one scene to the next. Also the first 10 minutes in LA look like the intro to a really bad porno. Great acting though, especially Rainer Strecker (those eyes!).

Very interesting movie with a tale to tell.......2003-07-30

I was a little unsure as to what to make of the beginning of Westler. The first several minutes are shot in Los Angeles and almost led me to believe that I was watching the wrong movie! However, once the plot moved to Berlin in the early 1980's the story took off and the movie turned into both a sweet romance between two love-struck men from either side of the East/West divide and a sad indictment of the way in which the former East German state stifled the lives of its citizens.

The movie is fascinating from an historical point of view alone but the love story holds up well.

The story revolves around a young West Berliner, on a sightseeing trip with his curious American friend, having a chance meeting with a likeable East Berliner and the two instantly falling in love. The movie expertly highlights the problems associated with love across the divide in that time.

The music is dated and the film footage shot in East Berlin and Prague decidedly grainy (due to it being shot without attracting the attention of the authorities there). But both of these only add to the historical element of Westler and serve to reinforce the fact that this was life in a different time.

Very watchable.

Westler.......2003-07-05

Westler is more than the upbeat positive gay love story that it is. It is an irreplaceable record of the east/west Berlin life.
Well worth a look on both counts.

Amazon.co.uk Review

When attorney Julie Hastings (Frances McDormand) uncovers corrupt city real estate dealings, evil thugs attack her scientist boyfriend, Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson). Left for dead after his lab is detonated, he miraculously survives when the ensuing blast hurls him into the nearby harbour. Treated as a John Doe at a city hospital, he is unknowingly submitted to radical therapy that numbs his nerves to feeling--but which heightens his strength and his emotions. Once conscious, Peyton escapes from the hospital and builds a ramshackle lab in an abandoned industrial plant. Horribly burned and scarred by the lab explosion, he uses synthetic skin to impersonate his would-be murderers and seek retribution for their evil deeds. Peyton also tries to reunite with Julie, who believes him to be dead. While the film has an average script, it is overcome by the flashy cinematography of Bill Pope, the bombastic score by Danny Elfman and the well-choreographed direction of Sam Raimi. The director confidently walks the line between suspense, action, comedy and romance as he examines a bitter, victimized antihero who risks becoming as monstrous on the inside as he appears on the outside. --Bryan Reesman, Amazon.com

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