Film (2011)
Directed by Arnon Goldfinger
Original Music: Yoni Rechter, Cinematography: Philippe Bellaiche and Talia Galon, Film Editing: Tali Helter-Shenkar
With Arnon Goldfinger, Hannah Goldfinger, Harald Milz, Tamar Tuchler, Edda Milz von Mildenstein, Michael Wildt, as themselves
Arnon Goldfinger begins his film by documenting the beginning of the process of taking things out of his grandmother’s apartment. She has just died at the age of 98 and her apartment is filled with many pieces of memorabilia from her youth in Germany. What turns up, in the process of going through things, is a couple of Nazi newspapers. It turns out that, unbeknownst to Goldfinger’s mother, who figures centrally in the film, there was a continuing social relationship between her parents (Arnon’s grandparents) and a German couple who had sizable Nazi affiliations. It also becomes clearer, through Goldfinger’s investigations, what personal losses his family suffered during the war.
This is a film about memory, and about denial, and it is done in a subtly moving, slightly offhand way. The genius of the film is the combination of the informality of the interviews, combined with the intensity of Arnon Goldfinger’s underlying investigative focus and drive to uncover the story.
The remarkable thing – and one sees this most vividly in the case of Goldfinger’s mother – is an initial unconcern and associated vagueness about the complex past. One envisions this woman, Hannah, as a young woman earnestly building her life in Israel after the war, complacently ignorant of her parents’ life before the war.
Equally forgetful and seemingly unconcerned is the daughter of the SS officer who was the friend of Arnon’s grandparents. She is very sweet and welcoming through most of the documented interactions, but the film shows quite well how, in her case, there is also a desire to willingly accept obscured memory even when challenged by fact.
In contrast, as revelations unfold, it is striking to see how Hannah’s awareness, and interest, gradually focuses and gels.
Arnon Goldfinger is a continuing incisive presence in the film, engaged in the interview process with all involved and displaying a motivated sincerity and compelling drive.
– BADMan
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