I don't think I could possibly follow yesterday's blog with a suitably robust entry, and so I won't even try.Today I will bore you all with a review.
I have not been out on a film evening since I had the flu, ( and that was bleeding weeks ago) so I washed my face , put on a clean beanie and went over to Theatre Clwyd to see the German/Australian production of Lore.
I have not been out on a film evening since I had the flu, ( and that was bleeding weeks ago) so I washed my face , put on a clean beanie and went over to Theatre Clwyd to see the German/Australian production of Lore.
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| Not quite Edelweiss |
The story of innocence lost during wartime is a common enough theme within film narrative, but under the poetic guidance of Australian director Cate Shortland, Lore, gives the subject a visual and overwhelming sense of decay, grief and loss.
The war in Germany is ending and an affluent family is relocating as the allies fight over which part of Germany they will each control.After her SS parents are arrested ,14 year old Lore (Saskia Rosendahl) finds herself with the daunting job of mothering her four siblings on a 500 mile journey from the Black Forest to Hamburg to the perceived safety of their grandmother's house.
Lore's journey across Germany is suitably harrowing, but it is her loss of innocence amid the nation's shame and collective grief that is the most impressive to watch, especially given that the family's only salvation and aid comes in the shape of Thomas ( Kai Pet Malina) a Jew cast adrift from a liberated concentration camp.
Lore is not the matriarch of the Von Trap family in this movie. She is fickle, angry and racist and that is why her character is so compelling. Her blossoming sexuality around Thomas is soured by her ingrained mistrust and hatred of the Jews , a fact which is complicated by the slow realisation that her parents were indeed responsible for the atrocities that the damaged and starving German population are forced to bare witness to by the allied armies.
Rosendahl gives an impressively frank performance as the contradicted Lore and Malina is equally good in his role as Thomas, the Jewish survivor that is not quite what he seems. Both capture perfectly the desperation of survival inside a country stripped of everything it once held dear.
This is a powerful and uneasy movie
8/10
You sell yourself short, John. After yesterday's double whammy (or should that read multiple whammy?) punch-up with a cockerel, you produce a description of a film I'll probably not see - here in Tanzania? Definitely not. Have a great day. Jo
ReplyDeleteYou too jo........ Do you ever manage to get to the cinema there?
DeleteI. Could not survive without my films
Even reading your report makes me terribly uneasy John - I don't think I could bear to watch this film. Does that mean I am burying my head in the sand? Probably but I seem to have reached an age when these things distress me so thoroughly that I don't feel it is worth the angst they produce. That is not to say that they should not be shown - on the contrary - people need to still think about these things. Incidentally - I loved yesterday's post as I love all your posts - I always read them first and they never disappoint.
ReplyDeleteI think Lore had something new to say of the subject.... I am not a fan of telling a story again and again and again
DeleteThis sounds like a real 'must see' film and not one I've heard about, so thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteTalking of heads, I hope yours is on the mend today.
Thanks sue
DeleteClean beanie indeed! I like to imagine you also had little yellow patches of Betadine all over your face too.
ReplyDeleteSuper description of a powerful film. Maybe I'll see it in the security of my lounge. That way I can pause it and get a cuppa if it all gets to much.
I kept my head down so no one could see my face
Deletesounds like the movie you needed...powerful...uneasy...after yesterdays farm yard debacle! i'll look for it on Netflix...the movie not the debacle (sorry I'm ROFLMAO AGAIN)!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Theanne.off to work shortly...perhaps the night staff won't see the scratches
Deletei will check this out! thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad movies like this are being made. We (meaning USA) has depersonalized our ongoing war to the point where we don't even feel guilty about what we've done to people. We don't consider them "people" really unless they're European or American. It's a good time to remember the consequences.
ReplyDeleteI sounds like something I would watch if they ever put it on the TV. We don't get many "foreign" films around here in Bubbaland.
ReplyDeleteMy mother and her sister were smuggled out of Berlin to a family member's farm where they were fed raw liver to correct a vitamin B deficiency. My Grandfather finally turned up in 1947.
ReplyDeleteJan. I fought UNITA rebels who were supported and armed by the United States and housed displaced children until surviving family members could be located.
I shall have this film sent out from Europe but I am sure I will find it uncomfortable viewing.
I'm a blubber...I'd spoil the movie with my snivellings.
ReplyDeleteJane x
Seeing WW2 films like this raises my blood pressure and rage. I doubt this film will ever see a big movie theater here in So. California; maybe in the Art Theaters.
ReplyDeletep.s. I was hoping for a follow-up on the chicken vs. John thrashing...
DeleteI read a review of this film in the Minneapolis paper and yours in much better written! Maybe you have a future as a movie critic.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see this but wonder if it's available in Canada. I might try for the book it's based on, The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to see if they are showing this at the Showroom. Yesterdays post just made me spit my coffee all over my laptop. xxxxxxx
ReplyDeletePicture the scene... Lore has lost one of her flock: peering out of the screen she spies him sat on the back row, beanie hat low over his eyes to shield the scars, scotch egg in hand; his painful exploits of innocence lost days before writ large on his face.
ReplyDelete'You think you've got problems, best you read my blog!'
LLX
Nice one, JG. Missed this when it was out here a few weeks ago, but will be sure to catch it on DVD.
ReplyDelete