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| Viehjud Levi |
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 (10/10)
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Runtime: 90 m |
| Public Rating: 9.50 (2 votes) |
Director: Didi Danquart |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Drama/Foreign(German) |
Year: 1999 |
| Writer(s): Didi Danquart, Martina Döcker and Thomas Strittmatter(play) |
| Reviewed by: Sinomatictool |
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A beautiful film of ugly hatred. The film transpires the hatred so the emotions are joint with the audience and Levi. The acting complements this with you maybe shedding a tear as a Levi does. A man once loved throughout the small sheltered German town. The transition into this hatred is a bit fast and overwhelming but the film is devoid of any other flaws.
Levi (Bruno Cathomas) is a traveling peddler of sorts who cares for all the people in the town with his rabbit, Jankle, and his love, Lisbeth, the highest of priorities. But when a Nazi engineer comes to town to fix the railroad people's minds are diseased with the awful Nazi ideas. They then change into people unlike what they were. They single out Levi and personally attack him. Meanwhile, a love triangle forms and develops bringing more motives (if there were any valid ones in the first place) of hate towards Levi.
The passive way in which the town transforms is perfect, giving a very realistic view of how something like this would have happened. Avoiding clichés and Hollywood fluff to tell it how it is. A real world story not a lets be friends Disney special.
Bruno's acting and the writing of his character are brilliant. You feel, see, and realize the hate and what it can do to someone. How innocent they were and how confused they felt. People once greeting them daily now shunning them or insulting them to their face without any friends backing them up. A sad but realistic telling of what Jews went through and how Nazism grew.
So this is not only propaganda for the film I will notify you of the picture's faults. A gratifying plot but 90 minutes is not enough to tell a story of such power. It seemed as in one scene Levi was loved and after that one faded out and another focused he was hated. Lengthening this to maybe only 2 hours would have allowed for the transition to ease in a little more rather than rush. It also would have further strengthened character development, which was double sided but not its full potential. A longer film would be an even better film.
The cinematography of lush green hills and German countryside counters the hate spreading though the town. A genius use of setting to help expand on the plot's meaning. An unknown film needed to be watched by many. A film that avoids the violence of exhibiting shots of gas chambers and concentration camps by illustrating the hate and sadness with emotion and thought. A film that does not necessarily entertain but one that educates.
E-mail me with any comments you have on my writing stlye or ways I could improve. Any insight would be appreciated. Thankyou. Epic87@att.net
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