SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Helio The film portrays quirky characters realistically. The actors were convincing in their challenging roles. Some reviewers say it was about feminism but it was also about births, about death and lives inbetween and changes that occured over five generations. It offered the mystery of not knowing where the story would go next. Who is Fen-Shu to say men would not like it? It may be more accurate to say those with closed minds may not like it.

tenshi_ippikiookami This movie was a surprise. It all starts as an old woman sees that her last day on this world is coming, so she gets ready to say goodbye to all the women in her family (daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter). From that we go back to the past, to the moment she arrived back to her hometown with her daughter, and we see how they both grow old there, how their relationship with the other inhabitants develop and how they re-adapt to live in the countryside, in a very small village.The movie has hard moments, but also quite some funny ones, is quite smart and its characters are well developed. If it seems like a small movie, it may be, but it will grow on the watcher pretty fast, as you will get involved in the life of Antonia and all those that surround her. The actors do a great job and they bring a lot to the movie too.It will surprise you, it will make you laugh and, maybe, cry too.

ken558 Watching Antonia's Line 20 years after it was made (and winning Best Oscar Foreign Film then), it still has its quirky 'life-is-full-of-the-unexpected' charm reminiscent of 'new wave' movies of the 90s, though it does feel dated now. It's about lore, life, love/lovelessness, and definitely not about logic. So if you go about looking for typical character motivation, plot sensibility or any form of social, religious or political allegory, then you're looking for these typical "movie subtext" in the wrong garden. It is laughable how so many read 'feminism' into the movie. There is none of it, unless you go about creating one on your own. Both male and female characters can be interpreted as "strong" or "weak" depending on how you choose to view them based on your own bias - the movie as it is, has no bias whatsoever. For example, is resisting marriage a 'strong' or 'weak' trait? Depends on your own experiences, opinions, and views, isn't it. Or, to bay at the full moon because you can't marry your Protestant lover - is that 'weakness', 'foolishness', 'madness' or 'strong love'? Or to drown your own kin (who has committed a heinous rape) when he is already beaten and weak by pushing his head into the water from the back without his ability to defend himself - is that 'righteous', 'weak', 'strong', 'anarchic', 'cowardly', brave' or what?The movie presents what it presents. If you choose to draw any conclusion from it, then know it comes entirely from you, and don't merit your own intentions to that of the movie's intention.Watch it with open eyes and just let it rinse into you, and wash out whatever washes out.

Boba_Fett1138 Funny thing with this movie is that it's an highly appreciated one (it even received an Oscar for best foreign language movie) all over the world but in its own native country the Netherlands it wasn't received that well. At least not as an Oscar worthy movie and everyone within the Netherlands at the time also was quite surprised it took home the Oscar.What I can say about this movie is that it feels like a waste opportunity. The movie feels like one with hugely potential and if it worked out better this could had really been an 'epic' strong feminist family drama but instead the movie jumps all over the place also with its different styles and it's mostly an ineffective one. There is not much interesting within the movie, although you certainly have the feeling that the story itself had plenty of interesting elements to offer but yet it somehow doesn't always translate well to the big screen. Perhaps if the movie would had been an hour longer it would had worked out better and also as a more effective one.The movie covers basically the entire lifespan of a strong-woman of the Dutch countryside and the future generations of women, her daughter her grand-daughter and right up till her great-grand daughter, while she herself is of course aging. This becomes an interesting aspect of the movie. It begins right after the end of WW II and it ends somewhere in the '90's or so I would guess. So the world around her is constantly changing but yet it also stays the same because she keeps all the people she care for close to her. This means that parts of the movie are set in different time-era's, which gives the movie something unique.It's obvious that this movie was intended as a strong feminist picture, with all strong female leads in it but with this I mostly feel that the movie isn't as effective as it should had been. It just doesn't feature enough strong or original moments within the movie.It's still a really well made and good looking movie though. It doesn't look at all like the movie got shot in the Netherlands, the countryside and all within this movie is far too beautiful looking for that. But I always have that with Dutch movies and I guess I just don't know how beautiful my country actually is. Perhaps I just need to stop watching so many movies and get out more...Female director Marleen Gorris is obviously capable of making a beautiful and professional looking movie. She actually now has a quite successful career in America as a movie director, which is quite an accomplishment not only because she is Dutch but also foremost because she is a female. She actually was the first woman to direct a movie that won an Oscar for best foreign film. Guess she is a strong woman just like Antonia in this movie and that's why she directed this movie with so much obvious passion and devotion. I wasn't too happy about the acting within this movie though. Willeke van Ammelrooy has always been praised for her role but in all honesty her performance is quite a mixed bag. As the younger Antonia she isn't always too great but as the older Antonia she's much better and more convincing. Can't say that the make-up always looks convincing though. Jan Decleir is normally always a real great actor but his role in this movie isn't anything too memorable but this is mostly due to the far too limited screen time he gets in this movie and he also has far too little lines to speak. He however still does a good job with his sequences and it's actually nice to notice that he took on a Dutch accent and for once dropped his native Belgian one. Still it's weird to hear many other actors within this movie still speak with a Belgian accent, while the movie is obviously set in the Netherlands but this of course has everything to do with the fact that this is a Belgium co-production and a certain part of the cast & crew just HAD to be Belgian.I wish I could say that it was a brilliant Dutch movie, worthy of its Oscar...6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/