thanks for the info and good points, having the camera operator move (steps) in sync with the actor while shooting handeld helps for the smooth and organic movements and it makes you more connected to the character. That was the one of the tricks that they used I guess, but for doing that you have to be experienced and to a lot of rehearsals with the actor so you can keep up the sync. How it is usually done, the operator feels the steps of the actor?
The handheld camera work did not bother me. In my opinion it helped the story a lot, it gave more naturalistic and documentary feeling to the movie.