Train of life
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Train of life |
| Original title | Train de vie |
| Country of production | France , Belgium , Netherlands , Israel , Romania |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Radu Mihăileanu |
| script | Radu Mihăileanu |
| production |
Marc Baschet , Ludi Boeken , Frédérique Dumas-Zajdela , Eric Dussart , Cédomir Kolar , Radu Mihăileanu |
| music | Goran Bregović |
| camera |
Yorgos Arvanitis , Laurent Dailland |
| cut | Monique Rysselinck |
| occupation | |
| |
Train of Life (original title: Train de vie ) is an Israeli-French-Belgian-Dutch-Romanian film production in the form of a tragic comedy by Radu Mihăileanu from 1998 .
action
In 1941, the inhabitants of an Eastern European shtetl learned of the deportations of Jews to concentration camps . The “Council of Wise Men” meets, but cannot come up with a solution until the village idiot Schlomo comes up with the crazy, but saving idea: a wrong deportation train. The Council of Wise Men names those who, disguised as German Wehrmacht soldiers , have to "deport" the other villagers by train, but the train is supposed to go east to enable them to flee to Palestine via the Soviet Union . Old wagons and a steam locomotive that is almost ready to be scrapped are bought and overhauled, the timber merchant Mordechai Schwarz is appointed major , uniforms are tailored, the rabbi's cousin travels from Switzerland to teach the alleged Germans an exemplary German, papers and ID cards are forged and imported The railway company archivist hired as a locomotive driver. Since the shtetl is a little outside the actual community, the preparations initially go unnoticed. When some children are chatting about the train ride, the worried mayor appears, but the rabbi can calm him down. Time is pressing now, the journey into the unknown begins that same night.
It is only during the journey that the engine driver notices that, as a train that is not in the timetable, it must be noticed as a “ghost train” at the latest when passing through stations. He stops the train - just in time for an explosive charge prepared by partisans . During the stop, emotions rise: Yossi, the rabbi's foster son, has developed into an enthusiastic communist through his acquaintance with the communist paper forger and has gathered several supporters around him who are now demanding better wagons from the “Nazis”. At the same time the mayor of the village is being questioned by an SS Hauptsturmführer. He also lets the train stop on the open track and suspiciously asks Mordechai why the train is not registered. Mordechai has a flash of inspiration that can save them: the deportees are particularly dangerous as “communist Jews” and strict secrecy is necessary. The train is allowed to continue.
The abandoned shtetl, however, is cremated by the SS, the synagogue with its old books, the residential buildings, the belongings left behind go up in flames. Even the small group of resistance fighters, who consider the deportation train to be real, tried again and again in vain to blow up a section of the route in order to prevent passage. After numerous failed attempts, they watch the Jews in German uniforms praying with the "deportees" and now give up, completely confused.
Yossi persuades his Communist followers to flee to Moscow , on foot, however, but almost all the fugitives are captured again by the loyal “soldiers” and led to the train - only the tailor is from real Germans (whom he disguised for his friends because of his strong myopia holds) captured. Shlomo again has the saving idea: Mordechai is uniformed as a field marshal and suspects the site officer of hiding Jews. He hastily released the tailor. Mordechai, now cocky, demands provisions for his train, which even has to be prepared kosher . At first no one suspects, but soon the disciplined lieutenant colonel receives the information that the passengers on the train must be the Jews who fled.
A short distance from the Russian border, the train is stopped again by German soldiers . After a short shock it turns out that it is " Gypsies " who had the same idea as the Jews. They become friends and now drive on together. When, according to the map, they reach the Russian border and cannot find it, grenades hit right next to the train and are shot from both sides, so the front between German and Russian troops has been reached. The escape seems to have been successful. In the last scene, Shlomo reports that the Jews and Roma managed to continue their journey to Palestine and even to America. But in the very last camera shot you can see not only his face, but also his prisoner clothing . "That is the real story of my shtetl - a no: almost the real one."
background
The director Radu Mihăileanu had sent Roberto Benigni the script for Zug des Lebens in order to win him as an actor. However, he declined and devoted himself to his own project Life is beautiful ( La vita è bella , 1997). Mihaileanu does not enter into the question of whether Benigni's film is a plagiarism of his project. All he says is that the two directors made two very different films.
Awards
The film received the audience award at the Cottbus Festival of Eastern European Film in 1998 and the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999 , and in 1998 it was awarded the prize for best debut at the Venice Film Festival in 1998 and 2000 for best foreign film at the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards .
Reviews, comments
“A bitter comedy against the background of the Shoah , which lets the tragic become tangible in the comic and sets a monument to typical Yiddish humor. Some characters would have needed to be deepened, but overall the (excellently played) film is an examination of the subject of the Holocaust, which, despite all the narrative ease, depicts life as a nightmare. "
“With 'Train of Life', auteur filmmaker Radu Mihaileanu succeeded in dealing with the terrible subject of the extermination of the Jews in an intelligent, sensitive and often hilarious 'rail movie'. The 'Train of Life' need not shy away from the comparison with Roberto Benigni's film 'Life is beautiful'. "
“A journalist asked me: 'Will Shlomo survive the war that is not over in the film?' At first he surprised me with his question, but then I found the answer. I said to him: 'It doesn't depend on me, it depends on you and the audience. If you forget Schlomo, he will die, if you never forget him, he will never die. '"
Web links
- Train of life in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Interview with Radu Mihaileanu, director of Train of Life
- Ulrich Behrens: The dream of life , review at Filmzentrale.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Train of Life. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 21, 2016 .