Walking with the Enemy

The three interconnected stories about Hungary in the last year of the war are all compelling, but blended together in this melodramatic retelling, none of them is given quite the due it deserves. Kingsley is underused as Horthy, a fascinating historical figure who was an admitted Conservative and anti-Semite but who nonetheless refused to turn over Hungary's Jews until the very end of his time as regent, when Germany no longer trusted its ally to toe the Axis line. And the part of the movie about Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz, who helped a reported 3,000 Hungarian Jews, is also under-explained, despite all the subtitles.

Instead, the movie focuses on Cohen, who's based on Pinchas Rosenbaum, a 21-year-old Hungarian Jew who really did disguise himself -- albeit as an Iron Cross soldier, not an SS officer -- during the war. His story is heartbreaking and worthy of recognition, but this movie plays out more like an overly sentimental melodrama than the poignant Holocaust drama it clearly wants to be. The amateurish performances by many of the supporting actors (so many terrible accents!), the overwrought score, and the cliche-filled dialogue make it difficult to invest in this movie. At the very least, Walking with the Enemy could foster interest in a little-depicted part of World War II.