i saw this last night and vote it an 8. since then and it grow on me and i would give it a 9. the film have ( at first ) a seemingly slightly disconnect facade between the first and second half . the first half be a comedy and there little hint of the ragged truth of era and life and war and religious intolerance that will become reveal in the second half . while at first it may be a little disconcerting because it a slightly unfamiliar narrative sequence and on reflection it work . the acting be good ( hultz in the role of alex and the interpreter and be especially great ) . i have scan most other user comment and see that some who have read the book be please with the movie while there be a few who be not . both feeling and of course and be valid . for me and a retired family therapist and one world believer and the film be relevant on two different level . the first and a history and give a powerful reminder of how commonly polarization happen with demonizing and try to exterminate any of those with a smidge different moral value system than our own . the second be that in demonstrate the first and it also reveal something in common to each of u and all our family that each of u must go back to our root to more fully understand ourselves . t. s. eliot express this exquisitely in the 4th of his four quartet when he say represent we shall not cease from exploration or or and the end of all our exploring or or will be to arrive where we start or or and know the place for the first time . jonathan go on a fulfilling journey that any of u would find fantastically illuminate to explore and discover our root while what be those people go through then and who be they really . before and when and and during the early year before and after we be bear . etc . so the film at first give u the impression of a comedy and then shift to give u a lesson in history and human deficiency and but through all that it also give u subliminally a message about each of ourselves . all of u would be abundantly reward to go back and understand the place from which we first start .