The movie is about Kurt Gersteein. He is a Waffen-SS officer employed in the SS Hygiene Institute. He is shocked when he knows that the process he has developed is now being used to kill Jews. He tries to inform Pope Pius XII about Jews who is sent to concentration camps. Only Young Jesuit priest Ricardo Fontana helps him.
Costa-Gavras' political thrillers used to jab and thrust with lethal efficiency. This one just pounds against a heavy bag, huffing and puffing all the way.
Salt Lake Tribune
August 01, 2003
Costa-Gavras often shortchanges the story's inherent drama for talky and strident speechifying.
Amen., a docudrama rather than a documentary, is clearly guided by Shoah's example, asking us to reflect on the Holocaust and what made it possible rather than simply recoil from it.
What should have been agonizing in its impact comes off as wooden, perhaps because Costa-Gavras works in schematic fashion, spoon-feeding us issues while skimming the historical surface.
Planet Sick-Boy
July 16, 2003
Extremely heavy-handed, almost comically repetitious, and way too long.
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
August 27, 2003
Though Costa-Gavras brings nothing new to the table about the Holocaust, he puts another nail down in the argument that the world could have acted but didn't because of indifference.
Costa-Gavras deserves credit for staying the course; in a time when most European film directors are wringing their hands, he's still pointing fingers.
