Wendy Ide 

A Forgotten Man review – handsome but listless Swiss war guilt drama

Controversial decisions taken during the second world war imperil the Swiss ambassador’s homecoming in Laurent Nègre’s black-and-white period piece
  
  

Michael Neuenschwander as Heinrich Zwygart in A Forgotten Man.
Michael Neuenschwander as Heinrich Zwygart in the ‘airless’ A Forgotten Man. Photograph: Publicity image

Spring, 1945. Heinrich Zwygart (Michael Neuenschwander), the Swiss ambassador to Germany, is recalled to Bern following the surrender of the Nazis. But the glorious homecoming that he had hoped for is shadowed by the controversial decisions he made during the war, in the service of perpetuating and protecting Swiss neutrality. Peacetime, for Heinrich, may prove to be more dangerous than war.

A handsome period piece, shot in striking black and white, A Forgotten Man tackles an intriguing theme, but it’s a little too airless and inert in approach to bring this murky corner of European history to life.

Watch a trailer for A Forgotten Man.
 

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