My hommage to Richard Chamberlain continues.
Chamberlain plays the eponymous real-life hero, who disappeared in 1947. No one is sure when he died.
The film shows Wallenberg's tireless work to save Jews while holding the position of Sweden's special envoy in Budapest between July and December 1944. The Nazis called it "turning Jews into Swedes" because he issued "protective passports" that identified the carrier as a Swedish subject. He housed Jews in rented buildings.
The movie has a quasi romance between Wallenberg and Baroness Elisabeth Kemeny (Alice Krige) which was probably false. However, she believed in Wallenberg's work and was instrumental in encouraging her husband, the Hungarian minister for Foreign Affairs to have travel passes honored when the Germans declared them invalid.
Any film showing the plight of the Jews is harrowing and tragic. This is no different, with dialogue from Eichmann (Kenneth Koley) and others showing their contempt and inhumanity.
In Chamberlain's earnest portrayal, he exhibits no understanding of such cruelty, and his attempts to reason with the Germans leave him baffled. They think nothing of exterminating Jews, even young children.
Sadly I was reminded of today, when some people are lumped together in one group and no longer thought of as human beings. What emerged for me was the despair that we've learned nothing.
My only problem was all the accents. When your in a foreign country, you don't walk around speaking English with a foreign accent. You speak your own language. Though this was set in different places, Wallenberg understood other languages, and would have been speaking in them. Accents are not necessary. Otherwise, Romeo and Juliet would be speaking with Italian accents.
A compelling, thought-provoking film, with a strong performance by Chamberlain as a righteous among nations.
