Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Am Ende die Hoffnung" or "Fateful Love - The Hunt for U 864" is a German 110-minute movie from 2011, so this one is already over five years old. Writer and director is Thorsten Näter and while he has some solid stuff in his body of work, there are also a handful very weak projects from this very prolific German small screen filmmaker. This one here is definitely among the latter and the best way to see it is that the characters really look shades and those who got some, look pretty clumsy in terms of writing. The main character is played by Yvonne Catterfeld and due to my subjective liking of her (especially physically I did not give this one a lower rating). Admittedly she brings something to the table unlike the likes of Ferres, Neubauer, Thomalla, Furtwängler and the list goes on. But it is most of the time a fairly pseudo-important movie simply because the cast and script do not have the talent to live up to the ambition and this refers to the now as well as the past. As for the now, the growing closer between the young woman and old woman felt never authentic given the lackluster beginning from the old. It is a desperate attempt that we should get sucked in by the story the longer it goes just like the young woman does, but it is simply not happening. Then there's these rushed-in dramatic moments like the collapse that she recovered from of course in a heartbeat because hey she is so dedicated, determined, funny, wise, witty and what else. As for the scenes from back during the war, they are only monimally better I guess and you will find more than just a few weak moments too in there. The consequence is that it is really almost impossible to cheer for the couple at the center of it. The more I write about it, the more I feel that 4 stars could still be too much. But hey at least they did not give us a full 100% happy ending like they would have in a Rosamunde Pilcher or Inga Lindström film. Then again the somewhat happy ending in the now is just as bad. The best thing for audiences here is that this film runs for under 2 hours only and there are others here in Germany with similar tone, style and story that got the 3-hour treatment and at that runtime, I probably would have cut another 2 stars. By 2011 Catterfeld still hadn't understood that subway-themed films, especially with cringeworthy romance plots, may not be her thing. Easy thumbs-down for me here. Not recommended.
