TRAIN OF LIFE
Reviewed by Harvey Karten Paramount Classics Director: Radu Mihaileanu Writer: Radu Mihaileanu Cast: Lionel Abelanski, Rufus, Clement Harari, Marie-Jose Nat, Agathe De la Fontaine, Bruno Abraham-Kremer, Michel Muller
There's an old saying that if you put ten people of the Jewish faith in a room and set them loose to discuss any topic (law, religion, politics, you-name-it), you'll get eleven opinions. Contrary to the view of anti-Semites who haven't the foggiest notion of this 5700-year-old culture, there is no one Jewish ideology. Even when the chips are down--as we see in this movie directed by a man whose father spent time as a captive in a work camp--the potential victims continue arguing throughout about the proper method of escape from the oppressors. Yet underneath the surface, the people of Radu Mihaileanu's film, "Train of Life," feel a keen simpatico for one another, a fellowship that transcends their ideological and practical variations. If Mihaileanu's movie portrays the Jews in the tradition of storytellers Sholom Aleichem and Isaac Bashevis Singer as dolts, dunces and misguided prophets, this is his wholly positive intention. After all, weren't the Nazis the ones who had a vision of a perfect society, of all men and women thinking the same, acting identically, and bearing no flaws? To any contemplative person, such an order would be a nightmare. Think about that.
"Train of Life," an English-subtitled movie which features French speaking actors performing in rural Romania, is told from the point of view of an acknowledged fool, Shlomo (played by the noted French actor Lionel Abelanski). Shlomo's tale is mythical, a fable, a fairy story of a part with that large group of folklore designed to help make life bearable for a people subjected to persecution for thousands of years. The story opens two years into World War II in a shtetl, or village, inhabited by Jews--and by Christians who appear not ill-disposed toward them but are instead dependent on their business. When Shlomo gets word that Germans have invaded a nearby hamlet and are deporting the Jews to camps, he races to tell the rabbi who at first is disbelieving but who quickly senses the truth of the situation. The inhabitants get together to debate methods of escape and though the group are varied and include a Communist and a romantic pair who are envied by at least two would-be suitors, the rabbi and council of wise men agree on a bold plan. They acquire a used train which they paint in bright colors, assign half the males to dress in Nazi uniforms to play the enemy, and all board pretending that they are a band of Jews headed to the camps. In reality they are to proceed through Rumania, to Russia, and ultimately to Palestine.
One of the oddest road movies to hit the screen in ages, "Train of Life" follows the band of hardy innocents as they run into an assortment of adventures. Each adventure could well have been the basis of tragedy, but proceeding throughout in a comic tone, Mihaileanu turns each exploit into a farcical event. Chief among these is a Hogan's Heroes specimen. When one of the travelers, a tailor, is captured by real Nazis, Mordechai (Rufus), who is dressed as a high German officer, heads directly into the German-occupied headquarters to talk his way into getting the prisoner back, hinting to the hauptsturmfurher (Robert Borremans) that the latter might be suspected of having friendly feelings toward the captive. How he gets this commandant to supply the entire train with a groaning board of food is worth the price of admission in itself.
"Train of Life," which beat "Shakespeare in Love" and "Central Station" for the Italian Academy Award for best foreign language film, is infused by its filmmaker with a great deal of warmth for the Jewish victims of the Holocaust in Rumania. Amid the self-deprecatory humor, the fights, the ideological squabbles, we are impressed by the tenacity of the People of the Book who emerge from abuse and tyranny using humor as their principal weapon of survival against unspeakable acts of humiliation. Fascist ideology is shown as the humbug that it is when the stiff Germans are contrasted with the imperfect, life-affirming people, who in moments of greatest danger can dance wildly to the foot- stomping beats of Klezmer music. Though Robert Benigni, originally offered the role of Shlomo the Fool, had to turn down the proposal because of other commitments, one could not have hoped for a more moving and joyous cast than the one assembled here, a cast which allegedly included 8,000 Rumanians who served as extras.
"Train of Life" is not the first comic take on the Holocaust-- one which is not about to be unanimously accepted as kosher by those who feel that the Shoah must be treated with utter solemnity. But if the Yiddish proverb is valid, "A gelechter hertmen veiter vi a gevain," or, "Laughter is heard further than weeping," "Train of Life" is all the more likely to help keep the memory of the Holocaust alive.
Not Rated. Running Time: 103 minutes. (C) 1999 Harvey Karten
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