Thursday, January 22, 2015
“To Life!” screens at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29 at the Castro Theatre in S.F. In German with English subtitles.
Yiddish songs lift wistful Berlin film fest opener ‘To Life!’
by michael fox , j. correspondent
Film review
Ruth Weintraub has mastered the art of keeping her Jewish past at bay. Evicted from her beloved Berlin apartment of 35 years and placed in ugly, unwelcoming public housing, she opts to stop struggling.
Jonas is nearly half-a-century younger, and less skilled at evading the future. He happens to be Jonas-on-the-spot to rescue Ruth at a crucial moment, reluctantly initiating an odd and unexpected friendship.
It’s the movies, so we’re inclined to accept the unlikely sequence of events that sets in motion the German drama “To Life!” (“Auf Das Leben”). Even more, we yearn for these good yet troubled people to bond across the generations.
Part of that yearning has to do with our desire to see the Polish-born Ruth (played with grit, wit and gravitas by the formidable Hannelore Elsner) no longer tormented by the losses she suffered during the Holocaust.
That’s a familiar theme in films, almost to the point of cliché. However, the ways in which younger Germans confront the Holocaust and respond to anti-Semitism is endlessly compelling (to this observer, at least) yet rarely examined in movies.
That’s the path one wishes “To Life!” had chosen to explore with greater commitment, instead of opting for a more superficial and routine story of strangers altering each other’s lives.
“To Life!” opens the Goethe-Institut’s annual Berlin & Beyond Film Festival at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29 at the Castro Theater in San Francisco.
The festival is also showing another film of Jewish interest, “Run Boy Run.” Pepe Danquart’s compelling Holocaust-survival epic, which screened in last year’s SFJFF, plays at 10 a.m. Jan. 30 at the Castro, with the director present.
“To Life!” is a good-looking, well-acted and engaging movie that proves more successful at skirting difficult questions than evading potholes of predictability.
The greatest pleasure are the Yiddish tunes that the gifted actress and singer Sharon Brauner performs in flashbacks as Ruth. We relish these expertly arranged musical numbers, and savor the talent and charm that Ruth possessed in her 30s.
Along with Brauner’s terrific musical numbers, Elsner pulls us through “To Life!” by powerfully conveying Ruth’s unblinking self-awareness and zero tolerance for self-pity (in herself as well as others).
Readers with long memories will recall Elsner from “Go For Zucker,” the provocative German comedy that opened the 2005 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. A longtime leading lady of the German screen, she will be presented with the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Acting before the screening.
Elsner is totally convincing as someone who was required to rely on herself from an early age, and takes it in stride without resentment (though not without regret). Her performance evokes the depth of wisdom, courage and common sense Ruth has to offer.
Jonas (Max Riemelt), who’s sleeping in his van as “To Life!” begins, has also had to make his way in the world without his parents. That accounts for the tenuous bond between Jonas and Ruth — they’re both loners — and their respectful appreciation for each other’s integrity.
“To Life!” boasts a good heart and good intentions. It’s a shame it doesn’t evince a bit more wisdom and courage.
Topic: Free Fall - Freier Fall (Read 1248580 times)