Word: trainings
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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There will, of course, be inevitable comparisons to last year's enormously popular Italian comedy about the Holocaust, Life is Beautiful. Both movies provide a positive affirmation of life and humanity through a comic examination of tragic events. But Train of Life, which was actually written before anyone had ever heard of Life is Beautiful, has earned its many international awards and praises on its own merits. It is not, by any means, the same movie. Mihaileanu takes a more collective look at how people react to tragedy, and through this study in optimism, tries to give us a broader...
...film has its own logic: Incidents turn on luck and silly circumstances, and in the back of your mind you suspect they couldn't have really happened. The train escapes several close calls because of a German uniform hastily tailored to a higher rank, or by the outrageous claim that their train is special because it is deporting extra-dangerous communist Jews. These are examples of the whimsical and creative view Train of Life takes on practically every aspect of the shtetl's endeavor...
...Shlomo who frames the entire movie. He is the village fool, but following a long literary and dramatic tradition, this fool is ultimately the wisest of them all. Not only does Shlomo come up with the original fake deportation train idea, but he continually saves the day along the dangerous journey to freedom by coming up with more silly and crazy plans. He is simple, carefree and innocent, and this allows him to be, at times, the only one who is fully aware of what is at stake in their struggle. French actor Lionel Abelanski is blessed with an endearing...
...hero of the film, but we do meet and come to know an eclectic array of individuals: Esther, the vivacious and beautiful young woman in search of a lover; Mordechai, the conflicted fake Nazi; and Yossi, a newly converted Communist revolutionary raising proletarian trouble on the train. Each has his or her own way of carving out a life in the midst of the madness. The whole village manages to keep some semblance of their joy for life. Scenes of sex, dancing and prayer are abundant, as are moments of despair and fear. Half of any story is the presentation...
...Train of Life is a fabulous deception, a wonderful fairy tale that tries to tame the cynic in everyone into submission. It might seem sappy, it's certainly not real and it is depressing even as it takes the audience along on its life-giving journey. To even hint at the ending would be unfair, but let's just say it puts a powerful spin on how the rest of the movie is remembered. Memory was never so bittersweet, but fairy tales were never so skillfully told...