1.5/5 stars This misguided second world war film tries so hard to be even-handed, it seems like it’s forcing viewers to sympathise with the Nazis. It reduces the subtle emotional and political demarcations of Welsh novelist Rhidian Brook’s characters to trite movie stereotypes who act so predictably, the result is risible where it should be heartbreaking, and awkward where it should be daring. A strong theme about setting the ghosts of the past to rest to build a better future is quickly reduced to an unbearable cliché. The Aftermath takes place in Hamburg in 1946, a year after the war’s end. Allied bombing has reduced the city to rubble, and corpses are still being discovered in the ruins. Lewis Morgan (Jason Clarke), a British army colonel, is sent to the city to try and bring order to the chaos. The army requisitions a mansion for Lewis and his wife Rachel (Keira Knightley), and the German owner Stefan (Alexander Skarsgard) and his young daughter are scheduled to be moved to a camp. Lewis feels that now the Germans have lost the war, the defeated population should be treated with fairness and compassion, and allows the rugged Stefan and his daughter to stay on in the giant house, as long as they keep to themselves in the upstairs rooms. But the death of Lewis and Rachael’s baby son in a bombing raid has driven a wedge between them, and Lewis is always out on army business. Stefan often prowls around the house to reposition the furniture, so it’s not difficult to work out what happens next. The idea behind the story is to show how we can find ways to reconcile with, and even forgive, our sworn enemies. Unfortunately, The Aftermath takes the soap opera approach, in which the forgiveness means Rachael and Stefan making vaguely passionate love in the kitchen while husband Lewis is on duty trying to bring order to Hamburg. An intriguing set-up quickly devolves into a B-movie variant of Lady Chatterley’s Lover in which the ‘gardener’ may, or may not, be a Nazi. Everything about the film is wrong. Knightley plays a whingeing wife who has no understanding of her husband’s job or his gentlemanly sense of duty – the film offers a very negative view of women by portraying the female characters as too self-centred to think about the wider implications of their actions. Stephan is bizarrely presented as a traditional romantic hero, rather than a bitter man suffering the indignities of defeat. Lewis’ compassion is saintly, and it’s difficult to regard him as anything more than a metaphor. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms review: Disney Christmas spectacle The crux of the storyline – whether we can forgive our enemies, and whether we should forgive our enemies – is smothered by a corny subplot about the British couple coming to terms with the death of their baby son, and a plot twist about Rachael leaving her husband to run away with Stefan to start a new life is ludicrous. Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook