Written by Robin Mukherjee.
Australian/German co production.
Cast - Saskia Rosendale, Kai Malina, Nele Trebs, Ursina
Lardi.
Plot
Lore the daughter of Hitler supporters’ is left to care for her younger sister and three younger brothers when her parents are imprisoned after the war. Lore (Rosendale) is instructed by her mother to take the family North to Hamburg (from the black forest where they live) which means the family must journey through allied occupied Germany largely on foot as trains are not running and a curfew is in place.
The family are joined by a young
Jewish man Thomas (Malina) who brings them food and makes romantic advances
toward an increasingly emotionally confused Lore, she at first belittles him
then tentatively encourages his advances.
Review
A low key film about a middle class German family who have
been taught to be proud of their Pro Hitler beliefs and it is only after the
war has been lost, that their world begins to disintegrate. As intimate portrait of the lives of the
children the story often becomes disjointed and choppy as the children wonder
what to do, and how to travel through a war torn Germany. They are never really sure where they are or
what horror they will come across, or if the evil of the concentration camps
posted on billboards by the Allies is true or fiction.
They are ostracized firstly because of their family’s beliefs
and later because they are just more mouths to feed, and it is only baby Peter
for whom the adults seem to have any care. Ultimately this is a journey in which
Lore loses her innocence through the tentative romantic encounters with Thomas
and as she comes to question the values of her parents.
Fine performances by all, and the performances of such young
children are particularly naturalistic. The director had an assured vision
however, there are lots of the tropes you would expect from an art house film;
close ups of, young wheat growing in fields, ants and dried blood on corpses
and dandelion snow as well a long lingering shots and slow moving drama. But it is a wonderfully engaging film
beautiful and frightening and well worth seeing.
5 out of 5 stars.
Budget - Low budget 4.3 million Euro (about 3.6 million
pounds) Australian/German co production. Second feature for director Shortland
the first was the award winning Somersualt (also low budget).
