Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

"Herbstmilch" is a West German 105-minute film from 1989, so 3 more years and this one will have its 30th anniversary. Three writers came up with this one and the director is Joseph Vilsmaier. The lead actress is Dana Vávrová and she was already married to Vilsmaier at that point. This is the story of Anna Wimschneider, a woman who really existed, and we find out about her life as a young woman during the days of Nazi Germany, how she met Albert and how the two worked together on a farm trying to keep Nazi influence out as much as they could.Vilsmaier was one of the most influential German filmmakers in the 1990s and his name is still known to many today, probably because he is still making new films despite approaching his 80th birthday. His movies often have a connection to Bavaria, which is something I don't really like that much as I am from another region in Germany and never cared much about Munich or the Alps. Anyway, "Autumn Milk" was his very first work as a director and for that it is an okay achievement. Still I personally never really felt for the main character or cared for her and I am not sure if she was relevant enough to get her own movie. The film moves very slowly and not a whole lot happens for a film of that runtime. I also did not find the main character too likable. I am not sure if that is because of Vávrová's acting or because of the writing, maybe a mix of both. As a whole, I don't think this one stands out from the grey mass of uncountable films made about the dark days of Nazi Germany and World War II. There is nothing new or innovative about it and I am surprised to see all the awards recognition it received. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

Not only is this an engaging story, this film also does a good job of depicting real life for the Bavarian farmer during the late 30's and the war. It's in the details: one big bowl of food on the table, being told not to eat so much so the pig has food as well, barefoot most of the time. This was an incredibly difficult life, yet we understand so little of the day-to-day activities. Beautiful, yet honest. I found the acting to be sensitive and moving. I'm looking forward to other films with Ms. Vavrova. It would have been nice to have the story be a little longer. There was more to tell, I suspect, in Albert's story, the last year of the war, and what happened to the people around Anna. Even what happened to the mother-in-law.

"Herbstmilch" (Autumn Milk) is an unsentimental though very touching movie about this woman growing up in the German-countryside-reality before and during the second world war.The book, this movie is based on, is the biography of Bavarian peasant woman Anna Wimschneider. As oldest daughter in the family, she has to take over responsibility for her 5 younger siblings and the complete household including two older brothers and her father, after her mother passed away, giving birth to the youngest child. That time Anna is only 8 years old.Ten years later, against the will of both families, she marries Albert Wimschneider shortly before WW2 and becomes peasant women. Instead of the younger brothers and sisters, she now has to care about some nasty old relatives and a mother in law who hates her. During the war she has to do all the field work on top, even while she is pregnant.This movie shows in a touching and never sentimental way every day struggle in the 30/40th in the German country. Anna never entirely looses faith and she even keeps and lives her own little romantic corner of her heart.Beside real Anna Wimschneiders appearance during the end-titles of the movie, her real husband Albert Wimschneider plays the role of one of his own old uncles. The role of Albert Wimschneider is played by talented and very handsome actor Werner Stocker who was forecast to have a great career but sadly died of cancer in 1993. Anna Wimschneider, who also died only a few years after the movie was released, is played by Dana Vávrová. She is married with Joseph Vilsmaier, director of the movie. She had met him the first time, when he was cinematographer for the German TV-mini series "Ein Stück Himmel" where she played the leading role, when she was 15."Herbstmilch" gets released on DVD in July (2004).