Music under a shadow
FILM review by Don Perlgut: The German film Wunderkinder tells the story of two brilliant young Jewish musicians living in the shadows of the Holocaust in Ukraine in 1941.
Wunderkinder (which literally means child prodigy) is not based on a true story, and despite some problems with the pacing being too sedate and some acting being too self-conscious, it succeeds thanks to the combination of young people, music and the growing threat of the Holocaust.
The action is set around Larissa Brodsky (Imogen Burrell) and Abrascha Kaplan (Elin Kolev) who befriend Hanna Reich (Mathilda Adamik), a wealthy non-Jewish German girl who is desperate to play music with them.
Set on the eve of the Nazi occupation and told mostly in flashback, the film’s understated approach to the impact of the impending Holocaust on Jewish children is intelligent, sensitive and nuanced.
The portrayal of both Soviets and Nazis is remarkably well done, with rich characters and a fine script.
There is the charming but truly creepy German SS Colonel Schartow (Konstantin Wecker), who literally forces the Jewish musicians into life-or-death performances.
Young German professional violinist Elin Kolev gives a standout performance as the young Jewish man, in part because he gets to play a version of himself.
Although not Jewish, he is a child prodigy musician (and does his own music in the film) and reportedly won the role ahead of 400 contenders.
Kolev may soon be typecast in the role of a Jewish musician as he is also starring in the German film Bronislaw Huberman – Orchestra of Exiles, which depicts the life of the Polish-Jewish virtuoso violinist who founded the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra, which later became the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
There is something unusual in watching German-made fictional films about the Holocaust. The German willingness to acknowledge the worst atrocities of the Nazi period remains a positive element of modern German society.
Not surprisingly, Wunderkinder won a major award from Yad Vashem in Jerusalem last year for “artistic achievement in a Holocaust-related film”.
Wunderkinder is currently screening.
PHOTO of young musicians in Wunderkinder.
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