American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally
The life of American woman Mildred Gillars and her lawyer, who struggles to redeem her reputation. Dubbed “Axis Sally” for broadcasting Nazi propaganda to American troops during World War II, Mildred’s story exposes the dark underbelly of the Third Reich's hate-filled propaganda machine, her eventual capture in Berlin, and subsequent trial for treason against the United States after the war.
- Released: 2021-05-28
- Runtime: 107 minutes
- Genre: Drama, History
- Stars: Meadow Williams, Al Pacino, Thomas Kretschmann, Mitch Pileggi, Lala Kent, Carsten Norgaard, Jasper Polish, John D. Hickman, Swen Temmel, Jesy McKinney, Donat Balaj, Sewell Whitney, Jeffrey Holsman, Brian Dean Rittenhouse, Ramiro 'Ramir' Delgado Ruiz, John Cassarino, Marcus Rafinski
- Director: Michael Polish
Comments
- hcharton-944-475761 - 30 June 2022
By attempting sympathy for a traitor and prostitute, the script is the worst crime of the film.
While this subject matter is fertile material for studying how we can serve right instead of wrong- this woman declares "in war, there is no right and wrong, there is only survival, and I did what I had to do to survive" - this is spoken exactly like a traitor and a prostitute. What if doing the right thing were more important than survival? I guess then you would be a hero. Wars are fought exactly because there is a difference between right and wrong. Freedom isn't free. The crime involved here harmed the entire nation, and the entire free world.
There is no real complicated morality play here. Just plane old treason and opportunism. And obviously for a couple of actors to end up working directly for Goebbels is probably a sign of where their sympathies lay. But somehow this is scarcely addressed.
The script is by far the worst crime of the film.
Al Pacino is a little less cartoonish here than in other late pieces, so he was surprisingly watchable. However, again the script rears its ugly head. His closing remarks are patently absurd and painful to hear. I didn't bother to look up how accurate this script stayed to the record, but I can guess. As philosophy it is garbage. They had an interesting legal argument they could have made, but they chose not to.
Meadow Williams' acting is over the top and sickly sweet. Her wardrobe and hair is fake and distracting. And she pretends that her character had no choice, as does the absurd script.
The music is mediocre. Wardrobe is mediocre. Lighting is intentionally soft. - jmattioli-51371 - 17 December 2021
waste of time
Pacino is brilliant the only saving grace .Some of the worst acting I've ever seen. It is not worth watching unless your looking for the historical aspect of Axis Sally. - bryangary65 - 21 October 2021
Interesting
Much better than it's current 5.6 rating
Always of interest to watch films based on true events, especially when previously not aware of it
Pacino was his normal worth watching self, and thought in the lead role Meadow Williams did a good job.
