Fateless

Lajos Koltai, Hungary-Germany-UK, 2005 (8.2*)
Based on the true story of 14-yr old Hungarian Jew Gyorgy, played by Marcell Nagy, who was sent first to Auschwitz then Buchenwald by the Nazis. Beautifully shot in b&w, from a novel by Nobel-winning author Imre Kertész. At the time he's coming of age, for a normal teen, Gyorgy is having to both learn to survive and also to learn what it means to be Jewish and persevere centuries of persecution.

Certainly not a pleasant story, but still an inspiring one. Nagy is excellent in the title role, aided by production being shut down for awhile to find new investors, giving the young actor the appearance of being severely aged by the travails of the concentration camps. This is an overlooked holocaust film, and Jewish Heritage Month is a good time to view this one if you haven't, as it's one of the better made films of this genre from a technical basis. Kudos to director Koltai for adapting the novel into a powerful visual statement of man's inhumanity.

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Mephisto

Dir: Istvan Szabo, Hungary, 1981 (8.8*)
Best Foreign Film (AA)

This disturbing film about an actor in Nazi Germany put Klaus Maria Brandauer on the map, with a great performance as a man who "sells his soul" in order to remain an actor, basically by doing plays that the Nazi establishment choose for him to perform in Berlin, the most popular being Mephisto in Faust’s play. The ultimate statement concerns whether one remains true to his career or true to his heart. The novel my Thomas Mann's son Klaus, is based on the life story of his brother-in-law, an actor in Berlin. You may be also interested in Szabo's other film that covers this period in history, Sunshine, a multi-generational history of a Jewish family in Austria. Oscar® for foreign language film.

Quote: I’m just an actor, what do you want from me? (Brandauer)

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