From the personal memories of its producer, Emil A. Fish, seven when he witnessed the events shown (now in his 80s, this his sole involvement with film), a modestly-scaled Holocaust story from Bardejov, Slovakia that plays like a local folk tale of cunning and hope. It might be a superior After School Special about a roundup within the relatively well-to-do Jews of Bardejov in the early 1940s, trying to survive under the constantly growing restrictions put on them as local officials & the Slovakian military follow Nazi orders passed along by their own government. But in a small town where ethnic/religious lines are often crossed between friendly neighbors, so too are lines of command and loyalties. An attitude that makes a daring life or death rescue just possible. Robert Davi plays successful businessman Rafuel Lowy head of the what’s left of the Jewish Committees within the Town Council, his authority now little more than a front he maintains thru force of personality. And when the latest edict comes down to send most of the young Jewish girls to work in a shoe factory hundreds of miles away he’s naturally suspicious. Powerless, but with a few connections he can still call on, he learns their true destination, along with Jewish girls from all over the country is the Death Camps of Auschwitz. The theme and storyline by now overly familiar, but there’s something to be said about a straightforward, uncomplicated telling. And director Danny A. Abeckaser, shooting mostly in Israel, puts up a convincing Slovakian environment. Or does once you adjust to accented English-language dialogue and filming technique/production values out of the 1950s. Survivor Emil Fish was determined to get his story on film, not to chase humanitarian awards. And that he does. Just remember to set expectations at a reasonable level. And to have a tolerance for a score that goes heavy on klezmer-like clarinet stylings.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The go-to orchestral tinta on Jewish stories used to be ‘cello heavy, now, it’s all swooping/squealing klezmer clarinet.