A little fact and a lot of fancy went into this post-WWII tale of commerce & revenge as a lively group of Jewish Holocaust survivors (all middle-aged males) grab control of the Black Market linen trade in hopes of making enough cash to leave Germany for America. Co-writer/director Sam Garbarski locates the ‘can-do’ spirit, toughness & grim humor that helped these men survive the camps to replace the usual mournful tone and defeatist vibe. No baleful cellos or whimsical Kletzmer band forced onto the soundtrack. Moritz Bleibtreu is David Bermann, the only survivor of his family’s fine linen business, now in need of partners as his camp record shows he’d been a somewhat favored prisoner, possibly a collaborator. So while his gang hits the streets to roust up customers with ‘special deals,’ he’s stuck defending his actions to German/American Special Agent Antje Traue, a woman who finds his story implausible. Concentration Camp jester to Nazi officers? Hand-picked to ‘teach’ Hitler how to deliver jokes as well as Mussolini? It’s audacious stuff. Well cast and very well produced. If only the actually writing were better and didn’t drift away from uncomfortable period attitudes. An important piece of misinformation doesn’t convince and the relationship between the female interrogator and her male suspect feels overextended, used to provide convenient structure and easy sexual interest. A pity when the film is so original (even brave) in taking on its tricky idea.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Where’s Billy Wilder when you need him? He actually worked as a Special Agent clearing ex-Nazis for work permits around this time and heard many a German express ignorance of any atrocities, once giving approval and work papers to the man who was to play Jesus as a member of the famous Oberammergau Passion Play. ‘But be sure to use real nails in the Crucifixion’ he claims to have said. The film he made about this period, A FOREIGN AFFAIR/’48, may be Wilder's least known masterpiece. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/11/a-foreign-affair-1948.html
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