Hardly ever does a film make me feel physically ill. But after I watched Lore this past Sunday, all I wanted to do is curl up in my bed and sleep it off.
Travelling with five children through post-war Germany was exhausting, but what really got me was the emotional turmoil the children were in after their Nazi parents disappeared and the world suddenly turned against them…
Lore (Saskia Rosendahl) is about 15 when the Second World War ends, her parents were heavily involved in Nazi crimes and passed their beliefs on to the kids. When Lore’s mother is forced to turn herself in, Lore is left with her four siblings, the youngest only a few months old.
When they run out of food they begin their journey through Germany, hoping they will make it to their grandmother’s house near Hamburg. Hunger drives them through a country that is devastated, discouraged, angry and sad. Basically there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel.
Lore was raised to be a „good German“, she loves Adolf Hitler, despises anyone of Jewish descent and prays for the „End-Sieg“. Attracted to a fellow traveller Lore also begins experiencing her sexuality, which throws her even deeper into an emotional conflict. Left without her parents, Hitler dead and Germany in the hand of the allies, Lore very slowly begins questioning her education. It is painful to watch and hard to realize that the second world war left an entire generation shattered and swept off their feet.
However horrific the belief’s of Lore and her siblings, as they don’t reflect their own beliefs but solely what they were taught, it’s saddening more than it is aggravating. And even though these children still raise their right arm to salute „Heil Hitler“, it doesn’t actually keep one from feeling for them. Watching this film gave me chills; it made me unbearably sad and angry at the same time.
The camera captures the journey of the siblings in a very poetic manner. The many close up shots made me a little dizzy and were over-employed for my taste, but in the end this film really got under my skin and I cannot think about distant enough way to critique it.
All I’d like to add is please go watch this film! You might get an entirely new view on the lives of the generation of our grand- and parents.
Lore ( D: Cate Shortland, AUS/DE 2012)
