Unlike Any Film on Nazi Era Germany (Lore)
How and when and why should we hate people? We all have compartments inside us for administering such aspects of our humanity.
Fortunately we always have illustrations from Nazi era Germany as a tool to help manage these compartments. It’s tricky though, figuring out how to distinguish actual Nazis from complicit Germans from deluded or unaware Germans. And at what age and to what extent do you dial the children of Nazi parents into your reaction to Nazi era Germans?
See the film, “Lore.” It mostly doesn’t ask or answer questions about hatred. It does, however, present a reality that reminds how much we need art. We need art to keep presenting portals to that hateful time. “Lore” is unlike any of the so many portals.
The title character, Lore, is about fourteen. She’s the oldest of five siblings. She loves her father and mother. They love her. When Lore’s Nazi father and mother are arrested at the end of World War II, Lore must keep her siblings together; keep them moving; get them to their grandmother’s home hundreds of miles away across a devastated post-war landscape.
It’s a raw, uncertain landscape. How do they traverse it? Where do they get food? It is a pastoral landscape, eerily beautiful and open, albeit littered with dead bodies and variously awakened people.
Effectively, “Lore” rises to the challenge of being a coming-of-age film. The screenwriter and director and Saskia Rosendahl in the title role handle the injection of sexuality sensitively. This simple and complex film also handles mindful aspects of coming-of-age with a modest daring.
Effectively, “Lore” dares to be a slow film. This is not uncommon in independent filmmaking. Indeed, it is one of those choices that often relegates special films like this to “independent” classification, and this is why we are fortunate to have movie outlets like The Magic Theatre in Nevada City. See “Lore” playing at The Magic starting Friday, 3/22.
How and when and why should we hate people? We all have sounds echoing through the compartments inside us that administer such aspects of our humanity.