The Holocaust comedy may be a surprising genre for some - but I am sure many of the Holocaust victims would understand it. Humor is one of the secrets of Jewish survival, and even in the darkest times as WWII, Jews tried to cope with the situation with a mix of faith, resolution and a unique humor that survived and helped them survive the times.
Radu Mihaileanu's film is a fantastic story of hope and dreams in horrific times. The idea is good and original, with an ending fifteen minutes that pay back some of the viewers hard time in the mid of the film. There are a lot of good things to be seen here, but also a lot of slow pace and conventional cinema, sometimes even bad cinema. The film is moving and emotional, but more at the abstract level. Too many of the characters on the screen belong to the Jewish (positive) stereotypes descended directly from 'Fiddler on the Roof'. Acting is good, but even the best actors could hardly overcome the schematic approach of the script. The secondary plot of the sudden exposure of the close shtetl society to the non-Jewish world is treated in a way too much similar to some of the Bashevis-Singer books and deserves much more than the simplicist approach given to it in this film
It is always worth making and seeing films that show the Holocaust from different perspectives. 'Train de vie' is neither the best, nor the worst of them. 7/10 on my personal scale.
Radu Mihaileanu's film is a fantastic story of hope and dreams in horrific times. The idea is good and original, with an ending fifteen minutes that pay back some of the viewers hard time in the mid of the film. There are a lot of good things to be seen here, but also a lot of slow pace and conventional cinema, sometimes even bad cinema. The film is moving and emotional, but more at the abstract level. Too many of the characters on the screen belong to the Jewish (positive) stereotypes descended directly from 'Fiddler on the Roof'. Acting is good, but even the best actors could hardly overcome the schematic approach of the script. The secondary plot of the sudden exposure of the close shtetl society to the non-Jewish world is treated in a way too much similar to some of the Bashevis-Singer books and deserves much more than the simplicist approach given to it in this film
It is always worth making and seeing films that show the Holocaust from different perspectives. 'Train de vie' is neither the best, nor the worst of them. 7/10 on my personal scale.