The history of film is littered with bad books which have made great films Hitchcock made a career out of adapting terrible novels. In this case, however, it’s a case of bad book, worse film. Quite why is not that easy to say.
It’s based on Rachel Seiffert’s novel The Dark Room, which is actually three stories in one book, which are not related, apart from they are set in the dying days of the Second World War. The story that director Shortland has chosen to film concerns the young children of a Nazi family whose lives are just about to collapse in 1945.
The family are in deep trouble the parents know that the Fuhrer is dead and the war is all but over, and they know they are doomed. The problem for the children is that they have been thoroughly indoctrinated into Nazi ways, taught to hate Jews and believe in their own superiority. As the Allies approach the children are shovelled onto the road and told to go to Aunt Omi’s house far in the north where they will be reunited with their parents.
Lore is the eldest’s name, a thoroughly Aryan youth who will lead her younger sister, two twin brothers and a baby through the Black Forest to Omi’s house. It’s a huge ask for a girl who, although it is never stated, can’t be more than 15. Lore pulls and trudges her family through the dark forest where they come across several unfriendly families.
Just as the family look to be held by American troops who intercept them on the road, they are saved by a Jewish boy, Thomas, who claims to be their brother, therefore making the whole family Jewish. Quite why Thomas does this is never explained, either in the film or the book, but they stick together to survive the arduous journey.
A crucial scene has Thomas trying to seduce Lore, who automatically rejects his advances, calling him a “filthy Jew. He ploughs on in his quest though, and helps the family get towards the train station where it will lead them to safely.
Let’s face it, if you’re going to make a film about Nazi youth you’d better get the tone absolutely right. Of course there was a whole generation of white, beautiful youths whose heads were filled with vile ideology, and who had to be re-educated, but here it is far too weighted in Lore’s favour. She is gorgeous, evil and not particularly bright, so why are we taken on such a long journey with her? The device of a romance with a Jewish boy is far too ham-fisted and makes little sense, and her final defiant act of smashing her mother’s china toy is too obvious to have any emotional depth. This is the darkest chapter of the 20th century, not a soap opera.
Director Shortland handled previous effort Somersault so carefully, but uses the same techniques here in a totally inappropriate way. The film is drenched in soft focus, picking out fluffy flowers, birds and tree life, and Lore herself is undeniably eroticised, constantly drenched in a flimsy dress, bare-footed and combing her hair. It creates an extremely uneasy feeling which is never overcome, and not helped by a plinky-plonky piano score that is irritating in the extreme.
Rosendahl as Lore is the film’s one shining light, giving a tremendously sensitive, brave performance in a role that requires the viewer to sympathise with a Nazi. It’s to her credit, if not the film’s, that she manages to pull that off. She is physically tough, defiant and always clear-eyed, and even when scolding her family she manages to be engaging.
Overall verdict: An uneasy adaptation of an uneasy and unsuccessful book which attempts to shine a light on what happened to Nazi youth a subject that really should be left well alone. A great central performance cannot save a consistent feeling that this is attempting to achieve something that is not admirable.
Review: Mike Martin