The Princess and the Warrior (2000)

Hmm, that’s a tricky one, somehow. Well, another Tom Tykwer and Franka Potente piece of work that is pretty good and impressive. When I read what was said on the back of the DVD, I thought I wouldn’t like it, but it wasn’t bad at all. So, I’m happy I gave it a try. Just to see how and what it is. However, I was not directly disappointed, I think it’s just not that type of film I love, but I enjoyed it. Some bits about the film I found a bit strange and weird and abstract. Sometimes it appeared to me as they threw things in, randomly, that didn’t make any sense to me. I also found that the whole movie was a bit too long. I was really confused by the ending- I somehow felt that it was some sort of happy ending, but I don’t know why. I don’t know if it is hard to get generally or if I’m just too stupid to understand it. I actually like all those extraordinary films, because you don’t see them very often and so they remain longer on your mind. The Princess and The Warrior will certainly do so, but, however, I thought that it was sometimes too abstract, though made up well. So in my opinion the message didn’t really come across to me. Why is she the princess?- Because she is a kind of queen in the hospital she works in. People do need her, definitely, but I can understand why she sometimes struggles with it. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the character of Sissy, although I felt that Franka Potente was acting well. I don’t know what exactly it was, but I think that is probably why I couldn’t really connect with it. I lacked of access to the main character of Sissy and her quite complicated mind. Why is he the warrior?- Because he is constantly battling with himself and that was portrayed very well. I found Benno Fuermann did an extremely good job, the character he played was complex and authentic. His performance, especially when he was crying, touched me in some way. That was outstanding, I think, somehow I felt very close to him as the warrior but not to her as the princess, and I haven’t got a clue why it is like that, I can’t explain, it is so difficult. I liked that blind boy, that was so sad overall. I liked the idea of letting Sissy work in that kind of hospital for mental people, it fitted with her as a person; it was just all about the complexity and sometimes two-faced sides of people. However, there were some really good film sequences, and I really respect this admirable job that was done in creating the movie. I give it three stars, because it is somewhere in the middle, between good and bad; I felt that something was missing, but I don’t know why and what.