Incredible film about Hungarian jews in WWII. It shows the pettiness, commonplace nature of daily life in concentration camps, the shallow humanity of police and officials, the brutality of pathological guards (jews) selected to run the camps. the main character, a 14 yr old boy, tells of his "happiness" in the camps - his friends, the small acts of kindness his friends paid him, the sun on his face, a refreshing cold bath (to keep the scabs and lice off his body). This boy perserveres and endures his captivity. Great scene: he is sick, dying, put on the death cart, stripped, then hosed down - those who showed signs of life were removed from the death carts. He is put somewhere else to die...still lives. So they figure, here's jew who wont die, so we may as well make him well - he is taken to a crisp prison hospital, fresh sheets (with the SS embroidered on them) warm blankets, hot meals...very existential. At the end he says the camps were not hell, because hell doesnt exist but the camps do. The film shows the meaninglessness of these camps, of the holocaust, through the eyes of a 14 yr old who is trying to figure out the basic rules of life on earth. Great film. Another great scene: an older man is intent on saving the young boys in the camp, he helps hold them up during endless nights standing outside (punishment for infractions, escapes)- a boy collapses, he picks him up, says, "hold on a bit longer, son, I will take you home." The love he showed, despite the hardship, brutality - love is possible. Also, he has a stop over at Auschwitz, and in the distance, you see the smoke stacks of the ovens, the smoke drifts down and covers the camps. Depressing, sad, but full of hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment