There's a certain distance with which you view the characters, the involvement is not such that they stay with you after the film.

It's Soderbergh's commitment and creativity that lift The Good German above many of its peers, no matter the era.

Why emphasise flaws in a film of such overall ambition and expertise?

This is one of the great World War II films, precisely because it turns the genre against itself and against the American self-aggrandizement that has generally been its purpose.