Berlin 36

The burgeoning relationship between both the athletes, bonding over a kindred "otherness," is handled tastefully by director Kaspar Heidelbach, though the lack of new insights on the subject of National Socialism's wickedness ultimately reduces a well-staged film to a historical footnote.

The film, well made in every way, smartly focuses on an unlikely friendship between Gretel and the athlete who ultimately replaced her -- a high jumper who was later revealed to be a man!

Whatever the facts of the case, Berlin 36 doesn't clear the bar for dramatic impact.

Tasteful to a fault, Berlin 36 turns real-life controversy into disappointingly tepid drama.

The picture sports a strong lead cast but is diminished by TV-style helming and production qualities.

Excepting a momentary late-film lapse into eye-rolling double-exposure tomfoolery, the film is as aesthetically bland as a film could conceivably be, the perfunctory camerawork imbuing the proceedings with an ugly, indistinctive gloss.