“American Traitor: The Trial of German Spy Sabine Kerkau” is a well-crafted drama that delves into the moral and ethical dilemmas of espionage and the American justice system in the days leading up to World War II. It’s a big-budget production, with a star-studded cast and a plot that keeps you engaged, despite the somewhat slow pace.
A few months ago, the story of Morton Sobell, the WWII-era double agent for the Soviet Union, came to light. Now, years later, the trials of his former colleagues are on the way.
To say that this is a controversial show would be a massive understatement. The first season of “American Traitor” had a fair amount of controversy surrounding its portrayal of the infamous German spy, turned British double agent, turned American prisoner of war, turned American traitor, turned British spy, turned American prisoner of war, turned British double agent, turned American traitor, turned German spy, turned American prisoner of war, turned German double agent, turned British spy against America, turned… you get the picture.
Meadows may have been alluding to the story of a blonde actress who was “unfairly” criticized. Regardless of how things looked on the outside, her heart was in the right place — remember, this is not a legally enforceable assumption. When “American Traitor” initially introduces Mildred Gillars (Williams), the details are hazy and the facts are dubious, but she seems ready to assist in the Nazi propaganda machine. The year is 1941 (as shown by a title card), and Hitler is still trying to persuade America to join his plan to destabilize Europe.
Gillars has to go on the radio, talk into the microphone in a breathy voice that could blow Marilyn Monroe’s dress up, and frighten the army men back home into staying. “What chance do you have?” she coos over the radio like a homicidal Betty Boop, while Joseph Goebbels (Thomas Kretschmann) heats up in the studio behind her.
Of again, Goebbels’ name didn’t have the same historical weight at the time (he wasn’t even there in person for the “Axis Sally” live broadcasts), so it’s possible that Gillars didn’t realize what she was doing or didn’t know how to get out of it without being murdered. Maybe she was a white supremacist, or maybe she was just an Ohio girl who fell in love with a German who threatened to divorce her if she returned home.
Williams’ lifeless performance — dressed for a funeral and coated in a thick black lip, the actress spends the whole movie tilting her head in a frozen half-smile that reduces Gillars to nothing more than a life-sized Barbie Doll — turns Gillars to nothing more than a life-sized Barbie Doll. The novel “Axis Sally” by William E. Owen was adapted by Polish, Darryl Hicks, and Vance Owen. There are shortcuts in this film’s edits as well.
The film’s ultra-didactic parallel storyline set during Gillars’ 1948 trial in Washington, DC will disappoint anybody hoping for a morally nuanced portrayal of life during WWII. Swen Temmel as Billy Owen, a naïve young co-counsel recruited by Laughlin since Temmel is Williams’ boyfriend and he wanted to play someone in this event, and Al Pacino as showboat celebrity defense lawyer James Laughlin.
The film’s ultra-didactic parallel storyline set during Gillars’ 1948 trial in Washington, DC will disappoint anybody hoping for a morally nuanced portrayal of life during WWII. Swen Temmel as Billy Owen, a naïve young co-counsel recruited by Laughlin since Temmel is Williams’ boyfriend and he wanted to play someone in this event, and Al Pacino as showboat celebrity defense lawyer James Laughlin.
As “American Traitor” tries hard to persuade us that Gillars was a victim of the same disinformation she spewed over the airways, the choice to bounce between the two periods suffocates any narrative momentum or dramatic coherence. When people think they are acting on their own free will, they are more easily persuaded, but even the most insightful lines of conversation fall flat when the “trial of the century” is going place around them at the DMV.
Pacino, whose loud-quiet-loud shtick is as well suited to courtroom dramas as it is to Pixies songs, seems to have gotten the bulk of the money expended to generate a believable sense of national interest. “You don’t strike me as a charitable man,” Gillars tells Laughlin in a statement that has an unexpected connotation.
The man may be on autopilot for the bulk of the movie, but he ends with the sort of barnstorming speech that you’d have to pay Broadway ticket fees to watch Al Pacino give. It’s difficult to remember what he says, but he screams it with such zeal that it sells you on the tremendous power of the spoken word more than Axis Sally ever could. We can only hope that the money Williams spent on the front-row seat she may or may not have purchased for herself was more valuable to her than it was to anybody else.
“American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally,” from Vertical Entertainment, is currently playing in select theaters and on VOD.
RATING: 4/10
“American Traitor”, a new play that begins its run at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston on August 3, is a powerful and provocative look at the life of Nazi spy and spy-hunter Margaret Georgie Anne “Axis Sally” Hamilton. The play, which is based on Hamilton’s autobiography, is a dramatization of her life and the events that led up to her arrest and trial.. Read more about axis sally transcripts and let us know what you think.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is American traitor the trial of Axis Sally a true story?
The short answer is no.
How accurate is American traitor?
American traitor is not accurate.
Why is American traitor the trial of Axis Sally rated R?
American traitor is a film that depicts the trial of Axis Sally, an American traitor who spied for Germany during World War II. The film was rated R due to its depiction of war crimes and violence.
Related Tags
This article broadly covered the following related topics:
- american traitor: the trial of axis sally subtitles
- american traitor cast
- american traitor: the trial of axis sally english subtitles
- american traitor: the trial of axis sally (2023)
- axis sally transcripts
