Left Luggage
|
Our Price: $59.89 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $15.28 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Left Luggage
Movie Review: Film with heart,but much predictability and lack of focus
Summary: 3 Stars
LEFT LUGGAGE, an English speaking Netherlands film, was a tremendous film festival traveler, and is known worldwide under nine very different titles.The U.S. release refers to the luggage that Chaja's Father had buried in Antwerp,Belgium when the Nazi onslaught hit Belgium.The film then symbolically refers to the baggage that is left in the lives of the people who endured and survived the Holocaust and the legacy that is put upon the next generation.I have seen this script done countless times and far more effectively!
1972 Antwerp has Chaja (Scotland's Laura Fraser-Virtual Sexuality)as the daughter of two non-religious Jewish Holocaust survivors.Her Father cannot let go of the past, and her Mother refuses to acknowledge it.Chaja's Jewish identity has never been of any real significance to her.She takes a job as a nanny in an Chassidic household.This type of Jew is quite different to Chaja.The rules are stricter,but not all that much of the difference is explored.The parents of three boys,The Kalman's (Isabella Rosellini and Jeroen Krabbe,who also directed this film) hire Chaja to help in the household, though Mr.Kalman is initially opposed.The youngest son,Simcha,has remained mute for some reason.Chaja and Simcha form a bond and they both start to blossom as people forged in this new generation.
Edwin de Vries,(who also wrote another Krabbe film which is rather directionless-The Discovery of Heaven) wrote the screenplay for LEFT LUGGAGE, and the fact that this film is released under so many different titles to me explains a lot of the disconnect and uncertainty of purpose that I experienced with this film.There are many subplots in this film and the meandering leaves a very unfulfilling sense of where the heart of this film should be;in Sweden the film title is translated "Little Simcha"-so is the film about Simcha? I didn't think so.In Germany the film is audaciously titled "Kalman's Nanny";in Argentina, "For Love" and rather innocuously "Research of the Past" in French Canada! The fact is that LEFT LUGGAGE is a bit of all of these titles,but alas not specifically any one of them.Herein is my rub;for all it's good intentions, this film is neither a great look at Holocaust "baggage" nor a film about love for a child, nor about researching the past.You will learn little bits about lots of things, but not specifically about one.
If Chassidism is what you are more curious, I suggest The Chosen.If you are more interested in the Holocaust, there are innumerable films that are far more interesting than LEFT LUGGAGE.The same goes for a girl coming to grips with her heritage from WW2 as in (An American Rhapsody, The Devil's Arithmetic,or Music Box.
I would have to echo "Newsday" critic,Gene Seymour's "frequently moving" accenting frequently, but not always.A very cautious 3 stars.