Sunshine ***1/2 Rated R Paramount Classics 180 minutes starring Ralph Fiennes, Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz, Jennifer Ehle, Molly Parker, Deborah Kara Unger, James Frain, John Neville, Miriam Margolyes, David de Keyser, Mark Strong, William Hurt written by Israel Horovitz and Istvan Szabo directed by Istvan Szabo
A Review by Akiva Gottlieb
Note: While this review does not have spoilers, I do discuss much of the film's plot. I suggest that those who like to enter a film with an open mind view the film before reading this review. However, reading this review will not spoil the film.
That the sun rises daily is itself a miracle, one of many that most people take for granted. As many viewers inferred from the recent `American Beauty', life is only worth living when one can take time to appreciate the small things, like the miracle of sunshine. Istvan Szabo's `Sunshine' is a film that earns the cliché `an epic of intimate proportions,' because it is a big, bold, sweeping three-hour triumph that is, at heart, about the smaller things in life, and the ways in which these things shape our destiny.
`Sunshine' is a film of dazzling richness; the fully developed story of 3 pivotal generations in the Sonnenschein (which translates as `sunshine') family of 20th century Hungary. Szabo's vision is ambitious, as he tries to tell the story of a century, a country, a family and their plight for assimilation in a world that may not accept them for what they are. The Sonnenschein family is Jewish, and one of the film's major themes involves the way in which the family slowly breaks away from their ancient heritage.
Ralph Fiennes ambitiously and successfully plays three members of the Sonnenschein family in different time periods. The family patriarch is Emmanuel (David de Keyser), who, in the late 1800's, creates a successful business by peddling the family treasure, `Sunshine Tonic'. He marries the temperamental Rose (Miriam Margolyes) and raises two daringly different young boys, Ignatz (Ralph Fiennes) and Gustave (James Frain), and his orphaned niece, Valerie (Jennifer Ehle).
As young adults, Ignatz, a government official who fervently supports the Emperor, and Valerie, a beautiful photographer, begin a forbidden, incestuous affair. Gustave, a wild Communist revolutionary, disapproves of his brother's actions, both politically and sexually. According to the film's press notes, the Germans and Jews were each highly assimilated, and did not regard themselves as a separate group. Therefore, it is all the more disconcerting that in order to become a judge, Ignatz must, with his siblings, change the family name to the Hungarian-sounding Sors. When telling her parents of the name change, Valerie promises to never abandon her Jewish faith. Easy for her to say…
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Adam Sors (Ralph Fiennes, in his second role), the younger son of Ignatz and Valerie, emerges as a world-class fencer. Taught by his brother Istvan (Mark Strong), Adam becomes the top fencer in his club, and aims to be an Olympian. However, times being the way they are, Adam has little chance of fulfilling his goals if he continues as a Jew. Because his life's motivation is to succeed as an athlete, he converts to Catholicism, breaking ties with his family's strong Jewish background. At the conversion, he meets Hannah (Molly Parker), a woman who is also desperately trying to fit in to the ever-changing society. Adam becomes an Olympian, winning the gold for his country. But even that cannot shield him from the upcoming war, and its effects.
The first 120 minutes of `Sunshine' is some of the best filmmaking I have seen this century, combining remarkable, intricate elements of romance and political intrigue that blend together seamlessly. But the third act, the story of Ivan Sors, who turns to Communism in order to avenge the gruesome effects of the Holocaust (which are shown in one particularly wrenching scene), is noticeably weak (until the final minutes, in which Szabo's vision becomes clear).
`Sunshine' is remarkable because director Istvan Szabo uses the powers of cinema to their fullest extent. The film is a welcome reminder of how any filmmaker with a strong vision can tell a compelling story under the constraints of a low budget. `Sunshine' pays close attention to period detail, transporting the viewer through the twentieth century with keen characterizations that pack a real punch.
Flawed as it is, `Sunshine' is a life-affirming tale of family ties; grandly intimate filmmaking that can only be categorized as `epic'. A unique combination of flamboyance and detail, featuring a dazzling display of acting prowess by the incomparable Ralph Fiennes, Istvan Szabo's `Sunshine' is a film event not to be missed.
Akiva Gottlieb Critical66@yahoo.com http://pictureshow.8m.com
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