Wil (2023)

 

          “Wil” is a Dutch film that deals with the role of Dutch police during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The main character is Wilfred Wils (Stef Aerts). He narrates as the film flashes back to WWII. He forewarns the viewer by asking us to not judge him. It’s 1942 in Antwerp and Wil is a rookie cop. An evil German forces him to take him to a Jewish family. When he and his partner step in to save the mother and daughter, the German is killed. Oops. It’s a provocative start to a movie that focuses on the difficult line humane Dutch policeman had walk to please their German masters and yet not be traitors to their nation. The central plot will be the investigation to find out who killed the German. Wil and his friend do not go into hiding. They continue their job while hiding the Jewish family. It’s remarkably brave act, especially since Wil is an obvious suspect and does many stupid things that should have prevented flashing back to the war from comfortable old age. For instance, his mentor is a man who turns out to be anti-Jewish. Wil is not a good judge of character. He has an affair with an unstable woman.

As far as the rounding up of Jews, the film is willing to show that many Dutch were anti-semitic and some even aided in the Holocaust. There is a scene where a Dutch audience leaves a showing of a anti-Jewish film to head for the synagogue. It is also not above depicting Dutchmen who collaborated. Wil might have saved the Jewish mother and daughter, but he ends up collaborating and participates in round-ups.

This is not the first movie that deals with Dutch resistance and collaboration. It is a bit different because it concentrates on one individual. Unfortunately, the main character is too inconsistent in his actions. Is he supposed to be a hero or a villain? I know some will say he represents good men who were forced to do bad things, but few Dutch were both resistance members and collaborators. Most picked a side. Wil does not. Other characters are poorly drawn. The evil Nazi’s actions make no sense. He overlooks Wil’s clear guilt and instead tortures Wil’s boss. The showy cinematography, which includes lots of circular filming, adds to the weird vibe the movie gives off. I know many critics will praise it, but it is not a good war movie and not a good Holocaust movie.

 

GRADE  =  C

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)

 

                Today is Anne Frank Day because she received her diary as a gift for her 13^th birthday on June 12, 1942. Her father, who was the only one of her family to survive their stay in concentration camps, published the diary in 1947 and it instantly became a best-seller. In 1955, a Broadway play based on the diary was a big hit. The playwrights, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, wrote the screenplay. George Stevens (“Gunga Din”) was chosen to direct. He was a good choice partly because during WWII he was a major in the Army Signal Corps. He had enlisted after seeing the infamous Nazi propaganda film “Triumph of the Will”. He and his crew filmed in Normandy after the D-Day invasion. His unit produced the only color footage of the war in Europe. He followed the American army all the way to the Elbe River. He reached Dachau death camp two days after it was liberated. He filmed at other concentration camps and then created the documentary “The Nazi Plan”. It was used at the Nuremberg Trials. He wanted Audrey Hepburn for the lead role because she looked a lot like Anne. She declined because she felt she was old at 30. She also was uncomfortable about bringing back memories from her life in the Netherlands during the war. Stevens auditioned thousands of young women and chose a 17-year-old model named Millie Perkins. Shelley Winters sought the part of Petronella van Daan. She was twenty years younger than Petranella. She gained 30 pounds for the role and lost 25 during the shoot. Stevens was determined to make a realistic and emotional picture. An exact replica of the three story building was constructed in a large sound stage. He kept the temperature on set appropriate for the time of year that was being filmed. This meant the actors were freezing during the winter scenes. The exterior scenes were filmed on location in Amsterdam. Otto Frank and Johannes Kleiman were technical advisers. The movie was a modest hit and was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Costume Design, and Score. It won for Best Supporting Actress (Shelley Winters who donated here Oscar to the Anne Frank Museum where it is still on display), Art Direction, and Cinematography. Winning three Oscars when “Ben Hur” dominated the awards was quite an accomplishment. It helped that they were giving separate awards for black/white and color. It was rated the 18^th greatest inspirational movies for AFIs 100 Years…100 Cheers.

               The movie uses a flashforward introduction as Otto Frank (Joseph Schildkraut reprising his Broadway role) visits the building after the war. Miep (Dodie Heath), the Gentile woman who helped hide the family, presents him with the diary which she and Mr. Kraler (Douglas Spencer) have saved. The film flashes back to July, 1942 when the Franks and the van Daans take up residence in the attic above the spice factory. Otto goes over the rules which include no noise during the daytime hours. I wonder if students will watch the movie today and pass out when they learn Anne would read for ten hours a day. She finished “A Tale of Two Cities” in one day. There is dysfunction between the two families mostly because of eight different personalities living in such a claustrophic and stressful situation. Anne is about the same age as Peter van Daan and they are not exactly Romeo and Juliet, but they gradually develop feelings for each other. Anne is a typical teenage girl as evidenced by her diary. She idolizes her father and tries her mother’s patience. The seven show their humanity by agreeing to take in Miep’s Jewish dentist Alfred Dussel (Ed Wynn). He adds more dysfunction. There are some edge of your seat moments because most viewers don’t know how or when they were caught. This adds suspense to the movie. At one point a burglar breaks into the factory and the cops come. Later, German Gestapo agents search the bottom two floors. There is an excellent scene where they endure a bombing raid. This is the one scene that the play could not recreate.

               Stevens did a great job bringing the diary to film. Screenwriters Goodrich and Hackett won a Pulitzer Prize for their play so Stevens had an excellent script to work from. The screenplay incorporates diary entries which are narrated by Anne. The cinematography deservedly won an Oscar for William Mellor. The camera would move from floor to floor. The lighting shines appropriate for an ill-lit attic. The only technical weakness is the sappy score. The cast is great. They all behave realistically. The movie does not make them heroes. They are typical people thrown into a terrifying situation. You will wonder if you could have survived what they survived. Until that fateful day. The movie answers the question of who ratted them out by choosing the burglar as the villain. It is still unclear if this is correct. Millie Perkins is surprisingly effective in her first acting role. She had no training as Stevens picked  her after seeing her photo and convincing her to audition. She was a better choice than Hepburn, so that worked out well.

               Obviously, the movie is a must-see which means I’m pretty embarrassed that it took me so long to see it. The film is inspiring, but very sad. That is as it should be. It is a great companion to the book and follows the book carefully. There are no Hollywood embellishments. What we do get is some Hollywood expansion of the story. Fans of the book might not have had an idea of the role that Miep and Kraler played in their valiant attempt to save members of a different race/religion. Would you have risked your life like they did? God help us because that question may be in our future.

P.S. I completed my 100 Best War Movies list before I saw this movie. I know, I know. Mea culpa. It does belong in the top 100.

GRADE = A

 

The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017)

 

            “The Zookeeper’s Wife” is the true story of Jan and Antonina Zabinski. They ran the Warsaw Zoo before Germany invaded Poland in 1939. The movie is based on Diane Ackerman’s nonfiction book. Ackerman was inspired by the unpublished diary of Antonina Zabinska and Jan Zabinski. It was directed by Niki Caro. She had female producers, a female camera operator, a female production designer, a female stunt coordinator, and a female set designer. The first cut of the film was over 3 hours long. All of the animals are real, the movie did not use CGI.  The movie was a modest success at the box office.

            The film begins in the summer of 1939. The head of the Berlin Zoo, Heck Lutz (Danial Bruhl), visits the Warsaw Zoo and is hosted by Jan (Johan Heldenbergh) and Antonina (Jessica Chastain). He seems to be a nice guy and Bruhl does not always play villains. The zoo is bombed on Sept. 1, 1939 as part of the Nazi invasion. Jan wants to flee, but Antonina refuses to leave the surviving animals. Heck arrives soon after. He tells the couple that the zoo’s animals are going to be killed for the war effort (meat and soup), but he will save the prized ones for his zoo. The Zabinski’s convince him to allow them to convert the zoo into a pig farm to produce pork.  Heck agrees because he can use the zoo as his laboratory for his quest to recreate the extinct auroch (the ancestor of modern cattle). Part of the reason for Heck’s interest in the zoo is he is interested in Antonina. She has to fend him off as she hides Jewish families at the zoo. Jan smuggles Jews out of the ghetto in trucks loaded with slop for the pigs. The Zabinskis have put themselves in a very dangerous situation.

            “The Zookeeper’s Wife” is an inspiring tale and it tells a different Holocaust story. It helps that it is true because otherwise it could be deemed a white savior movie. The acting benefits from Chastain and Bruhl who are always stellar. Bruhl’s character is similar to his in “Inglourious Basterds”. Charming, at first. Other than the two stars, the film is average. It does not attempt to horrify the audience. It assumes you know that what happened in the Warsaw Ghetto was terrible. It has more suspense than terror. There are no ridiculous escapes, but some close calls. I assume the lack of fireworks is because the movie adheres to the true story. Does it?

            The basics of the story are factual. The Zabinskis did use their zoo to save Jews. However, much of their story has been fictionalized. Most of the fudging has to do with Heck. He was the head of the Berlin Zoo and he was obsessed with the auroch. He benefited greatly from Nazi conquests because he could acquire animals for his experiments from many zoos. He was personal friends with Herman Goering and some of his “cattle” ended up on Goering’s estate. (He created “Heck cattle” and “Heck horses”, but they are not aurochs.) He did not start out as a friend to the Zabinskis and was not a sexual predator as the film depicts him. There is a mention of him in Antonina’s diary, but she describes him as being very kind. There was no insinuation of a romance, but he might have been sweet on her. He did organize the killing of all the “unimportant” animals. This included a hunting expedition on the zoo grounds, on a drunken New Years Eve. After this, he left Warsaw and did not have any more interactions with the Zabinskis. He did not pretend to shoot their son Ryszard, but another Nazi officer did. Jan was appointed director of all public parks in Warsaw. This allowed him access to the Ghetto. He did not work alone is getting Jews out, but was allied to the Jewish Combat Organization and the Polish Underground State. He did not smuggle Jews out under pig slops. He did turn the zoo into a pig farm and smuggled pork into the Ghetto. The Nazis would not have been duped that easily. Antonina, an accomplished pianist, did use music to warn the Jews that the Nazis were there. There were some close calls, but the scene where Antonina rushes home to save the hiders before Heck arrives is pure Hollywood. The families had been moved before the Warsaw Uprising because Jan was aware of when it would happen. They did not leave Stars of David on the walls of their hiding place. Jan fought in the uprising, was wounded, and captured. The most commendable service the movie does for history is it includes Janusz Korczak. He ran an orphanage in the ghetto and he did accompany his kids to death in a concentration camp. The Zabinskis were recognized as Righteous Amongst the Nations after the war.

            Knowing the history behind the movie, I would say that the movie took some liberties to make Antonina the main character and invented a romance between her and Heck. Jan got shortchanged in the script. However, the movie does a good job highlighting four fascinating people. You learn about them and are entertained in the bargain. I have to give credit to a Holocaust movie that focuses on a Gentile woman who risked her life in the Holocaust. She was not the only one and represents all the others.

 

GRADE  =  C

 

WAR MINISERIES: War and Remembrance (1988-89)

               “War and Remembrance” was the sequel to “Winds of War” (1983).  It continues the saga of the Henry family set in the chaos of WWII.  The mini-series was directed by Dan Curtis who also helped with the screenplay.  Author Herman Wouk was a cowriter as well.  The mini-series was a massive undertaking and at $110 million, the costliest mini-series up till then.  It was shot on location in numerous countries.  There were 2,070 scenes, 757 sets, and 358 speaking parts.  The mini-series ran 1620 minutes and was shown over two one-week spans.  It was a ratings success and got 15 Emmy nominations.  It won for Best Mini-Series.  John Gielgud, Jane Seymour, and Polly Bergen got acting nods.  Gielgud and Seymour did not originate their roles (replacing John Houseman and Ali McGraw).  Another significant acting change was Hart Bochner replacing Jan-Michael Vincent as Byron Henry.

               The mini-series opens the week after Pearl Harbor.  “Pug” Henry (Robert Mitchum) is now captain of the heavy cruiser Indianapolis.  He is still having troubles in his marriage with Rhoda (Bergen) as she is still seeing Palmer and Pug is playing footsie with Pamela (Victoria Tennant).  Natalie (Seymour) and Aaron (Gielgud) are still trying to get out of Europe to avoid the Holocaust.  Byron (Bochner) is a submariner in the Pacific and his brother Warren is a dive bomber pilot.  Let’s look at the three main arcs.

               Byron is the exec on a submarine skippered by the cigar (and scene) chewing Aster (Barry Bostwick).  These scenes are heavy with sub clichés starting with a command conflict as Byron believes in the rules of war and Aster doesn’t.  We get the obligatory depth charging scenes.  There are three set pieces and all have ridiculous aspects. 

               The Pug / Pamela / Rhoda arc continued from “Winds of War”.  It is still a small world with Pug and Pamela meeting in the unlikeliest of places.  Basically, Pug is still globe hopping (ex. Russia) and rubbing elbows  with the big boys (but not Hitler and Mussolini any more since the war has begun).  Pamela is still showing up wherever he goes.  I think she planted a homing device on him.  

               Meanwhile Natalie and Aaron continue their inevitable march to Auschwitz.  They are headed for Palestine when baby Louis develops a cold and Natalie panics (again).  They go from Italy to Elba and then Corsica.  Byron gets transferred to the Atlantic and masquerading as a diplomatic courier is reunited with Natalie.  He wants to go by train to Spain, but Natalie decides it’s too risky.  Would you believe this turns out to be a bad decision?  They both have run-ins with the malevolent unstable German commander, but as of episode 10 still have not made it to their final destination.  This changes with the train ride to Auschwitz.  Finally!  One of them dies there.

               Besides the three main character arcs, the miniseries concentrates on some major historical events.  The Battle of Midway is covered in episode 3.  Warren Henry participates in the dive bombing of a Japanese aircraft carrier.  The use of actual footage is problematical as some of it is from later battles (ex. there is some kamikaze footage) and some is from “Tora! Tora! Tora!”.  Raymond Spruance (J.D. Spradlin) and his decision making gets nice coverage.  He actually gets to defend himself against the historical criticisms of his lack of a killer instinct. 

               There are two threads that deserve mentioning.  The mini-series does an excellent job on the Hitler assassination conspiracy.  We are in from planning through execution to aftermath.  The other thread is the Holocaust.  The mini-series is a great tutorial.  One scene has Himmler visiting Auschwitz for a chilling “Special Action” where the commandant walks him through the process from the Nazi perspective.  Step by step.  Very efficient.  Aaron’s brother Berel (Topol) is in the camp so we get the Jewish perspective as well.    Aaron and Natalie’s train trip is not horrific enough, but you get the idea.  The gas chamber scene is the best I’ve seen and does not cop out like its equivalent in “Schindler’s List”.  For a TV movie, the mini-series is amazingly uncensored.  There is realistic nudity.  This is one of several powerful and emotional Holocaust scenes that take the series to a high level.

               Besides the drama of the fictional characters interwoven in the historical events, the show takes the viewers behind the scenes at the highest government levels.  Churchill (Robert Hardy), FDR (Ralph Bellamy), and Hitler (Steven Berkoff) are recurring characters.  Hitler’s descent into madness is well-chronicled.  In a similar vein, the storyline is bridged with footage and narration keeping us abreast of developments in the war.  The footage matches the transcript which is a great tutorial for the ignorant masses.

               “War and Remembrance” is a commendable accomplishment.  The effort invested is obvious and noteworthy.  You can see why it cost $110 million.  Dan Curtis was serious in making a blockbuster.  It is hard to imagine anyone duplicating the effort in the future.  In fact, W&R has been described as the last miniseries.  It brought a nice close to the heyday of these types of TV spectacles.  The location shooting was especially laudatory.  Curtis was the first to film on site at Auschwitz.  The foreign locales add authenticity to the story and give it a sightseeing aura.

               The cast changes are an upgrade from WoW.  As great as Houseman was as an actor, Gielgud does a better job depicting the naivete evolving into bravery of Aaron Jastrow.  Seymour is simply a better actress than McGraw which is important because Natalie goes through a gut-wrenching roller coaster ride.  Hardy and Berkoff (a Jew, by the way) are improvements over the earlier Churchill and Hitler.  Berkoff deserves recognition as one of the best Hitlers and Hardy has made a career of playing Churchill.

               As far as the acting in general, it is good.  The exceptions unfortunately are some key roles starting with Pug.  Mitchum definitely shows his age and sleep walks through the role.  He was almost seventy when the film was made.  His heart was not in it although he got to play out the fantasy of having a woman (Tennant) who was 33 years younger than him wanting to jump his tired old bones.  Tennant is weak as an actress although at least she manages not to look disgusted when pretending to be infatuated with the lackluster laconic lump of a career sailor.  Barry Bostwick jazzes things up as “Lady” Aster, the unstable sub captain who has an affair with Byron’s sister-in-law (Sharon Stone who appears at one point in a mini-skirt circa 1942).  The fact that Byron also jumps in the sack with Janice while pining for Natalie and his son Louis emphasizes the soap opera nature of the mini-series.  This, of course, pales in comparison to the Pug / Rhoda / Pamela goings on.  Naturally, in mini-series that clocks in at 1620 minutes, this love triangle gets tedious to go along with the creepy aspects of the May-December Pug and Pamela affair.

               The length of the mini-series also means that we have the interminable arc of the Jastrows’ path to the gas chambers.  It’s almost laughable the twists the screenwriters have to go through to prevent this arc from coming to a premature (but realistic end).  Two things have to come into play here.  Aaron has to be played as a hopeless optimist until they are completely trapped.  Although it is implicit, not explicit, Aaron’s behavior could be argued to accurately reflect the naivete that caused many Jews to disregard the omens.  As to Natalie, she has to  consistently wimp out when opportunities arise to save herself and her child.  I did not feel sorry for either one of them.

               A poor decision was made to make Byron Henry the action figure of the series.  The submarine scenes are the biggest whoppers in the series.  The interiors and operations are fine, but the tactics are abysmal.  Twice the sub surfaces for no logical reason.  The surface battle with the destroyer shows a complete ignorance of submarine warfare on the part of the writers.  (I do not know if Wouk staged it this way in the novel.)  That sub would not have survived that encounter in reality,  let alone left the destroyer crippled.

               In conclusion, it’s unfair to harp on some of the obvious weaknesses in W&W.  When you look at it in totality, it is a remarkable achievement.  While I found the romance interludes to be lame and repetitive, if you spend $110 million, you better bring in a female demographic.  The action loses out to the drama, but it is spaced out to keep people like me tuned in.  As a big fan of history, it’s fun to see the behind the scenes stuff like Hitler’s conflicts with his generals.  Most importantly, the Holocaust is covered in great detail through two story lines.  you certainly learn more about the event than you do from watching “Schindler’s List”.

GRADE = B