Der Unhold (1996)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Abel	John Malkovich
Chief Forrester	Gottfried John
Mrs. Netta	Marianne Sägebrecht
Count von Kaltenborn	Armin Mueller-Stahl

Review

German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff is the man behind this misfire, starring John Malkovich in what should have been an ideal part. The film is meant to be a looming thriller and progressive drama, in which Abel's destiny is intertwined with the horrors of war, but the drama falls flat and nothing ever rises to any kind of intensity. Is the script to blame? The editing? Or is Schlöndorff's artsy approach simply without drive and interesting observations? I'll leave that for you to decide.