(Berlin Luigi Noera with the kind collaboration of Marina fearful – Photos are published courtesy of the Berlinale)

There are films that kidnap you from the first shot, and so it was on the last day of this all-round edition of the Berlinale for which we thank the new director Carlo Chatrian.

In COMPETITION two films that are unrivaled in terms of storytelling and editing.

The first is a World Premiere documentary Irradiated (Irradiated) France / Cambodia by Rithy Panh who talks to us with the power of the images assembled in sequence of three at a time of how much the human being can go beyond any imagination. They are mainly sequences of the effects of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also about the devastation of the Naplan bombs in Vietnam and the Holocaust. Absolute Evil in all its aspects which are unfortunately human. If anything can be remembered to the director, he forgot what happened during the Stalinist purges and during the riots in the satellite countries of the Soviet bloc. It is a warning to humanity to remember recent history. For us it deserves the maximum score and beyond (5+).

The second comes from Iran it is Sheytan vojud nadarad (There Is No Evil) Germany / Czech Republic / Iran by Mohammad Rasoulof in World Premiere. It must be said that the director was prevented from going to Berlin. Four stories with a single common thread: the conscience of choosing. In the first, a good family man turns out to be a state executioner, in the second a soldier enters a crisis vice versa to avoid being in the firing squad. In the third, once again, a conscript soldier finds himself involuntarily in a condition of having been the executioner of his brother-in-law. In the last few frays in the narration between father and daughter never recognized. In a state like the Iranian one where individual freedoms are trampled on, a poignant narrative of individuals emerges. In short, the film of the Berlinale. However, we are still hopeful for Favolacce dei Fratelli D’Innocenzo which tackles universal themes like the Iranian film. we'll see.

Finally the last film in competition in the World Premiere from Taiwan a particular film where the images are talking about is Rizi (Days) di Tsai Ming-Liang con Lee Kang-Sheng, What a Houngheuangsy. After a first part of the film with still images in which the viewer immerses himself who cannot escape in an author's proof to extend himself to new film trends with a minimalist style.

The new section strongly desired by the new artistic direction Encounters

on the last day he gave us the best work, among other things, Opera before a documentary of an intimate story by the director. It is The metamorphosis of birds (The Metamorphosis of Birds) Portugal by Catarina Vasconcelos who gives us a storytelling of her family. The grandfather sailor and the grandmother who takes care of the children including the father of the director the oldest of the children. An intimate and personal story that deserves to be rewarded where we can all mirror ourselves. (score 3).

In the final in the Out of Competition section Berlinale Special the last three films:

Per Berlinale Special Gala at Frederick City Palace from the Czech Republic an unpublished story in which Agnieszka Holland vivisects the Iron Curtain a decade before the fall of the Wall. We refer to what Marina tells us in her (REVIEW) it's about Charlatan in World Premiere with Ivan Trojan, Josef Trojan, Big Juraj, Jaroslava Pokorná which for us reaches an unsatisfactory score (2,25).

Even worse, the politically correct French film Police (Night Shift) by Anne Fontaine in World Premiere in which a couple flick (Omar Sy, Virginie efira) together with their colleague (Grégory Gadebois) they yearn before the drama of an irregular refugee (Payman Maadi) who must be repatriated to his country where freedom is not guaranteed. The score is (1,5).

Finally to the Haus der Berliner Festspiele always for the Berlinale Special the latest film of this Berlinale in the round with Curveball from Germany by Johannes Naber in World Premiere with Sebastian Blomberg, Dar Salim, Virginia Kull, Michael Wittenborn, Thorsten Merten, Franziska Brandmeier a film about one of the first fake news that allowed American President Bush to launch Saddam Hussein's second war against Iraq and dismiss him with the silence of the German government that knew the truth. It is a documentary denouncing film that suffers from a weak direction. Our score is (1).

Although he has already sought unsuccessful weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as a member of a United Nations mission, German biological weapons expert Arndt Wolf is still obsessed with the idea that Saddam Hussein is hiding something. Nobody around him is interested in this topic anymore. This changes abruptly when an Iraqi asylum seeker claims to have been involved in the manufacture of biological weapons. The German Federal Intelligence Service summons Dr. Wolf to ascertain the legitimacy of the claims made by the informant, to which the code name has been assigned “Curveball”. Meantime, the 9/11 attacks shook the world and put Americans on the edge … Johannes Naber cunningly observes the growing friendship between two improbable men who find themselves wrapped in the absurd drama that set in motion. Furthermore, as we have been warned from the beginning, this is – Unfortunately – a true story. Naber’s outrage is contagious. Even those who were previously aware of the facts can only be amazed as the surreal sequence of events unfolding that would have led to the invasion of Iraq by 2003.

From tomorrow we expect the response of the Juries which we will give you an account with our personal ranking.