The Dark Valley (2014)

Touches You

From my favorite movies..

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

I'd never seen an Oestern before, so I thought this might be worth watching. My mistake. Dark Valley is too kind a description. Dismal, dank, horrid would all be better descriptors. And I only watched for thirty minutes.The best parts are the scenery and the homestead/village sets.After that it is all downhill. Or should I say uphill? The opening narrative is whispered and pretty effectively canceled out by some dreary string music. That sets the tone for the rest of it. Everyone in Dark Valley seems to be a refugee from a Bergman film, and nearly all have laryngitis. Those that don't are effectively canceled out by hoof beats, wagon wheels, tableware, rustling straw, rain, etc., all of which were recorded at least 40 decibels higher than the voices. Not that the dialogue was anything original, but it would have been nice to hear more of it.I never thought I would miss stage actors projecting their voices to the back corner of the second balcony. They could have used a few in this.

Greider enters a time capsule: a town sworn to isolation and poverty, and probably the very spare life many of our near ancestors escaped from. Life in the Alps wasn't about skiing and hot chocolate for these folks. Wood must be gathered once a year; not just for burning, but for building. Bread from harvest was baked in community ovens. Running out of food was real and everyone depended on everyone else. Enter the stranger who wears Spurs and comes from the American West. The camera he brings and the photographs he captures are our first hint something new is being introduced, but the plot takes hold and we are caught up in a secret so big and dangerous we cannot see a solution. Mountains, snow, fear and blood encapsulate this story, and Sam Riley's Greider is perfect. Masterful acting by the full cast.. There is some undiscovered talent here. History is paramount to this drama and those of you who love history will applaud this great "western".

Great suspense, you literally live and feel each moment, what a lost and dark place, filled with fear and hate against the tyrann and his son's, making people there a living hell, no hope and in the middle of nowhere arrives a stranger, the guy seems to be fearless and determined, the odious clan want's him to be gone, a sudden glimpse of hope within all this desperation, horses and man are part of the spectacular landscape, suspense is for instance unbearable and you want to move further, but that's the thing, the director catches every moment, every breath, you have an idea what's is going to happen next, but even then, in the very moment the picture is even better, really great movie and great cast, sam riley is phenomenal, he is without mercy, which is understandable given the circumstances

Pleasantly surprised to find an authentic Western rivaling Dances with Wolves and Eastwood in quality and ambiance. And, shockingly, it's a German production filmed in the Italian/Austrian Alps. The character presentations, props, sets, landscape, costuming, background sound effects and music were created, or reworked from existing structures, such that I could feel those rain drenched muddy roads on my feet as I watched. Bonus - action, suspense, storyline twists and emotional intensity. Landscape/scenery looked very much like the Rockies to me and I've traveled the Rockies from Canada nearly to Mexico. My only negative is, like many movies, the director did not have enough real world dirt and tatteredness in the costuming and props.