KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

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

torbi-2 I'm on a roll this week watching bad docs with subjects that should have made them much more interesting. I'm still trying to figure this one out. Obviously the interviewees think this is an amazing story, but the viewer is left wondering why—the doc takes this amazing story and tries to tell it using old movie clips whose only connection is that they were about WWII. I didn't like the fact that we are not introduced to these interviewees until midway through the film, that there are long pauses of silence (where it seems narration should have been placed but wasn't) and the music was disconcerting (to be diplomatic... to be rude, it was awful). I could see how this story would make a great Hollywood movie, but the way it was presented here, I had a hard time believing any of it was true.

rudimart I absolutely loved the movie. It was entertaining and mixing Hollywood spy movies with the real narrative was brilliant. Prior to viewing this movie, I had no idea this man existed and the role he played in making the D-day landings a success. He acted solely out of the motivation to save civilization from the horrors that a Nazi victory would have brought. Had it not been for him the D Day landings would likely have been a disaster and the war would have dragged on for perhaps two more years and maybe Hitler would have had time to make more rockets or even atomic bombs. This man single handedly fooled the Germans so many times and even had them believe that the D-day landings were only a diversion but were so successful that the allies cancelled the real invasion at Calais. After the war he still received money from the grateful Germans for his invaluable service. He never speaks in the movie but befittingly does visit the graves at Normandy. An informative and well presented documentary about a man who sought little glory for himself and yet was responsible for saving so many lives and turning the course of the war.

poikkeus This story is one of the more memorable footnotes to World War II - the tale of Joan Pujol Garcia, a man who ends up being a double-agent during a pivotal moment in history. And his appearance on the world stage couldn't be more important: his counterintelligence was designed to undermine the D-Day invasion.It's obviously not a big-budget documentary, but uses a variety of talkies and newsreel footage to round out the story. The cast of interviewees is relatively small; and the inclusion of inappropriate (or confusing) sound effects and garbled film editing makes for a less than compelling story. The story itself was the most memorable segment in Ben Macintre's Operation Zigzag, and the film's running length of 88 minutes suggests that the filmmaker had run out of material. If only he'd read Macintire's book first.

Thistle-3 Garbo: The Spy hit me like Fire in the Heartland. Again, here's a topic that I feel I am familiar with. i have seen movies about World War II, read books about the Invasion of Normandy. So, why have I never heard about this guy? Why don't I know how critical he apparently was to the whole Allied effort? If you've seen Alias or the Bournes, you know that a good spy has handlers. Garbo is the codename he received from his British handlers, because he took on various roles so well. In reality, he grew up in the Catalan region of Spain, the child of well-to-do parents, in the days before Franco. He wants to get involved. And, I will tell you we don't get to know much about his actual motivations or personality. The guy's a ghost, really. But, we get to find out what he did, offering his services to the Third Reich and to the Allies. Garbo set up an elaborate ruse that may have turned the tide of the war. He must have had iron clad insides to pull off some of these capers. I don't want to give too much away, but it's just an incredible story. And, to get it on the screen, since we don't have anything but talking heads and documents to illustrate the story, Director Edmon Roach intersperses scenes from spy films and movies about World War II that mirror real life events. It's a beautiful device and a remarkable piece of storytelling. I give Garbo: The Spy an 9 out of 10.