Movies

Saw this film at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles. It is an amazingly well made, well acted motion picture about a very difficult subject. The direction and cinematography were excellent. The lead boy was only 12 when the film was shot, yet he delivers a mature, sensitive and deeply emotional performance.The film is long but very compelling and speaks loudly about man's inhumanity to his fellow man. The message is even more disturbing when told through the eyes of a young teenager who is caught up in the atrocities of the Nazis and their Hungarian allies.If this film were in English or directed by Steven Spielberg, it would no doubt win numerous awards. Let us hope that "Fateless" is recognized for it's bravery and excellence.

Fateless reviewed by Sam Osborn of www.samseescinema.comrating: 2 out of 4I always find it difficult to dislike films about the Holocaust. There's so much pain on screen that it's nearly as if I feel like a brute not to feel the pain as well. And with Fateless, the pain is continuous. It's the story of a 14-year old Hungarian Jew sent to Aushwitz Concentration Camp during World War II. Shot beautifully by Gyula Pados, the film's color palette and sets are simply striking. But the story leaves much to be desired. Much like Everything is Illuminated, I left the film wondering if I knew any more about the lead character as I knew when entering the theater. Almost without words, the lead character serves only as a mannequin for the horrific crimes he endures. I see the pain but never do I feel it.

This film simply lacks courage to rethink the original book in dramatic terms. It escapes into apotheosizing instead of facing the tasks of a director who was brave enough at the first place to think he can tackle an issue as difficult as the holocaust - and that is curiosity, empathy, originality and a sharp eye. Instead you get actors without clear direction, dialogues and offs with little interest,fade outs instead of ideas, beautiful pictures, sepia and Morricone who makes you think you're in some romantic love adventure that somehow might turn out to be very very sad but then it does not... Dull.Read the novel!