This was an excellent movie, that grabbed me from the beginning to the end. Real violence was more in my own imagination, than actually shown, although it was also there. But physical violence was not the point of this movie and the novel from Stefan Zweig, which I also enjoyed as a teenager. Stefan Zweig, an Austrian from Vienna himself, was a huge admirer of contemporary German intellectuals, such as Thomas Mann, which was echoed by the German, and can still be read in their frequent exchange of letters. Both came from families of writers and bohemians and although I always loved Stefan Zweig (his 'Sternstunden der Menschheit' is one of the most beautiful books ever written), Mann is towering them all even today and one of Mann's books is thrown into the fire bin in this movie. Both were outspoken anti-Nazis and forced to finally leave their home countries. In the Schachnovelle, Zweig imagines a kind of intellectual torture, that only highly educated men could do to one another. After the socalled 'Anschluss' of Austria, the invading Germans decide to go after jewish properties and the notary Bartok is in charge of those. But he is not willing to tell them the passcodes of Swiss bankaccounts, so they pressure him, until he does. And to get to a cultural person like him, who is able to recite homer and more, they starve him intellectually, by taking away any book or other occupation in solitary confinement. No windows, little light, no speaking to other people - just always the same song ('Ich wollt ich waer ein Huhn - I wish I was a chicken') over and over. We never know, if he did tell them, or not. But in the end, when he gets away, he is not himself anymore and I cried when it became clear later on, that he had only imagined his beloved wife to be with him (whom he had successfully sent away to Rotterdam, before the Nazis grabbed him). A beautiful mind had been destroyed. What this has to do with chess? In a drastic way, you realize, that intense occupation with the game can indeed drive you into insanity. You wanted to learn something about chess? This movie is not for you. I am sure Stefan Zweig was a lover of chess, just as myself. And in his novel, he anticipated somebody like Bobby Fischer, just around the time, when Fischer was born (1941 vs. 1943). But is it really necessary to leave a bad review, just because you do not learn anything about the game? What a performance from Oliver Masucci this was. I was speechless. Now, I am only asking myself: How is it possible, that I did not see the movie earlier? Why did it not get more attention at the time?
Review of Chess Story
