Supelice Dreadfully Boring

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Syl Luchino Visconti's film, "The Damned," is perhaps disturbing and brilliant all at once. Visconti, the director, set to make a film about the German Nazis and a fictional family, the Von Essenbechs, who are wealthy and prominent. There are some very disturbing moments in the film especially with Martin's character, At first, I thought he was a closet homosexual but he really is pedophile and his crime against his mother is unforgivable much less unforgettable. I won't spoil that scene for you but be warned, it's disturbing. Martin comes across as a deeply troubled man and he is in the role. Ingrid Thulin and Charlotte Rampling play mothers and wives in this Shakespearean style tragedy reminiscent of Macbeth and Hamlet. Thulin and Rampling are both brilliant in their roles. Sir Dirk Bogarde is believable as a German Frederick. The family's weaknesses are preyed upon by an outsider who sets them up to self-destruction. We know what happens to Germany after the film ends and that is the horror of what happen to Europe as well. Seeing Martin transform into a powerful Nazi from the beginning is unpredictable without manipulation. The violence and sexual debauchery is also unforgettable as well.

Claudio Carvalho In the 30's, while Germany sees the ascension of the Third Reich that destroys their opponents, the powerful and dysfunctional Von Essenbeck family deteriorates after the murder of the patriarch and baron of steel mills.I am a great fan of Luchino Visconti, and I have seen at least thirteen of his movies. "La Caduta Degli Dei" has not been released in Brazil on VHS or DVD, and years ago I had not the chance to watch it in a movie theater. Yesterday I found an imported VHS and today I have just had a great disappointment, since I really did not like this long movie. I do not know how accurate the historical events might be, but I found it a twisted and messy view of the ascension of the Third Reich, with incest, pedophilia, orgy, rape, mass murder and many other sins. The set decoration and costumes are amazing, like in most of Visconti's movies; the soundtrack is wonderful; and the international cast is fantastic. Unfortunately, the screenplay does not work very well and I do not recommend this feature. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Os Deuses Malditos" ("The Damned Gods")

Maciste_Brother Visconti's THE DAMNED has generated a lot of reviews, articles and debates since its release in 1969. Writing a review for it seems almost pointless because almost everything has been written about it. What more can one add to the debate? THE DAMNED is a masterpiece, that goes without saying. It's a film that stands by its own, even compared to the director's other films. What's really beautiful about THE DAMNED is that it's quite obvious and not very subtle about it's portrayal of aristocratic decadence. For those who find the movie to be too long and too serious, well, were you watching the same film? There's so many levels of dark over-the-top humor in it that I lost count after a while. If THE DAMNED is seen by everyone has a masterpiece, it should only be described, imo, as a camp masterpiece. I've never seen such a brilliant depiction of decadence from such an obvious gay point of view, ever. Made in 1969 no less. Way before Fassbinder and other filmmakers who made film after film camping up the sordid lives of heterosexuals (war, wealth, power, etc).Though never all and out humorous, THE DAMNED is skewed in such a extremely dry sardonic manner that I started giggling at many scenes. The moment when this dark humor came to the fore occurred halfway into the movie, when we see a huge portrait of the baron at the head office. The portrait is a huge B&W of the man's angry face. The portrait is so ridiculous that I finally laughed out loud. There's no way that such an unflattering portrait would exist in reality. He looks like Boris Karloff on a bad day. And the reason why THE DAMNED is not to be taken too seriously.The whole film feels and looks like a 3 hour fashion magazine layout. The pure chic decadence it reeks is timeless. After watching the film, I now realize that most fashion designers and photographers of today have been copying the look and style of THE DAMNED. Sometimes, the whole film appears to be just surface, certainly because the characters that inhabit this world are so implausible, so over-the-top that they're divorced from any reality. Certainly the one wonderfully played by Helmut Berger (who was also in that Nazi "exploitation" flick, SALON KITTY). What a memorable character but, frankly, not a very realistic one. More of a symbolic one. And the confusing use of English (for most of the film) and German (for the very long orgy/massacre scene) enhances this detached symbolic approach. In fact, the whole film is pure symbolism. And it's quite brilliant in its use of symbolism: a wealthy aristocratic family is always filled with decadent family members scheming schemes but if there's one thing common about these families is that they're rarely affected by the outside world. These families live in worlds of their own, ruled by internal "laws" and "regulations" of their own. Visconti brilliantly uses this cloistered family dynamic coming apart before our very eyes to show how powerful and inescapable the rise of the Third Reich was and how something bigger than the wealthy family can filter into it and irrevocably control it because of the lack of morality that exists in such an aristocratic milieu. The aristocrats look down on the poor and less fortunate but here they are destroyed by a maniacal leader which came to power by preying on nationalistic fears of the general population. Oh the irony. I especially love the scenes with the maids and servants who never say anything or react to whatever happens around them. Visconti, who was raised and lived in such a milieu, is having way too much fun bringing down the Essenbeck family. THE DAMNED is definitely not for everyone but if you're game and you understand camp, this film is the pinnacle of camp. I doubt anything else will ever top it.

Cristian The movies have used as central topic the second world war, because it had all lot of things that tell, and, as a friend of mine said one time, it can be applied to the worldwide present. "La Caduta degli dei", or the famous English title "The Damned", join this group of movies (Others that belongs to this long list can be "Pink Floyd: The Wall", "Das Boot", "Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma", Roman Polanki's "The Pianist", "The Downfall", "Cabaret", "The Bridge on the river Kwai", "The Longest Day" and of course "Shindler's List"). "La Caduta degli dei" talk about the Von Essenbecks, a family where just one can have all the power. A family that going to fall in the total decadence and selfish. A "damned" family. The factor that produces all this power is a factory of metals. The principal own of this factor is the old Joachim, who begins the indecision of uniting to the Nazi regime. Since here begin a fight of hypocrisy for power until find the total decadence.Since the presentation of that selfish boy in clothes of women (Remembers me a lot of Bob Fosse's "Cabaret" where talk about of the Nazi Germany and it counts with Helmut Griem too) to the depressive wedding, "La Caduta degli dei" is a decadent story of not more than selfishness. Althoug that have some technical errors, it intention is clear and is told in a perfect depressive way. Luchino Visconti's "La Caduta degli dei" is definitely a good movie, with outstanding performances of Ingrid Thulin (As that interested and horrible mother) , Helmut Berger, Dirk Bogarde, Helmut Griem, Renaud Verley, Umberto Orsini and Charlotte Rampling (My God, is the first that i see her... she is beautiful, i think that Anouk Aimée was the woman that heads my list, but this one win her... what a woman!!!)."La Caduta degli dei" is a perfect movie of decadence and selfishness (I think that i made that thing of repetition, repetition, repetition... but its necessary) with and outstanding direction (I love that notable camera approaches, are magnificent and at the same time, give to the movie that saddest touch) and unforgettable performances. Is an undeniably important movie in the history of movies.*Sorry for the mistakes... well, if there any