| Overall Grade: |
A- |
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| Story: |
A+ |
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|
| Acting: |
A- |
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|
| Direction: |
B |
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|
| Visuals: |
B+ |
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The Moral Muddle
by Jerome Fishkin (movies profile)
Dec 28, 2008
43
of
50 people found this review helpful
So the older woman and the teen age boy have a lot of sex, and she disappears, leaving him emotionally scarred. Later in life he discovers what she was hiding, as he is forced to del with her again. His second encounter leaves him conflicted about her, with equal amounts of love, hate, compassion, angst, and just about every emotion a person can feel. It affects the rest of his life.
The movie is troublesome because it makes us confront the human complexity of a concentration camp guard. She deserves punishment for her crimes. She deserves blame for the scars she has left on her victims, including the boy whose adult live is driven by his need to deal with what she means to him.
But the character portrayed in the movie also deserves compassion that she simultaneously does not deserve. So we in the audience are left speechless, because after all, none of us want to admit that we felt even the slightest amount of sympathy toward a character who simply does not deserve it.
I know the story of the Holocaust, was raised on it and was steeped in it. I quit going to Holocaust movies years ago, and would not have gone to this one had I known the story line. But I was captivated by the movie and highly recommend it. It will cause you to think, and it will cause you to feel. |
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