Mundo de Juguete

Today I went with three friends to a special showing of all the films nominated for the 2009 Oscar for Best Live Action Short. Oddly, the four of us were in pretty much agreement about the films. Our pick for best of the nominees was PIG ("Grisen"), though ON THE LINE ("Auf der Strecke") was a very good film and is nearly as deserving of the award. We predicted that TOYLAND ("Spielzeugland"), however, will win the award because it's the sort of the film the Academy tends to like AND because PIG might ruffle some feathers because it is not "politically correct". I'll update this review after the awards are given.

TOYLAND is a film set during the Nazi era. A boy asks his mother about why all his neighbors (all Jews) are disappearing. She explains that everything is okay and that they have gone to "Toyland". Unfortunately, it sounds like such a nice place that the kid hopes to go there, too, and the film begins with him sneaking off with a shipment of Jews to the concentration camps because he wants to visit this magical place.

Much of the film consists of the mother trying to find the boy and eventually the SS officers help her to try to locate the boy. This all ends in a marvelous twist that I won't reveal here, but this twist takes the film from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

A lovely film that will probably win--in part, because the film is about an important subject that the Academy seems to like, the Holocaust (and highly reminiscent of LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL), and in part because it is so exceptionally well-crafted from start to finish. My only reservation is that the print was awfully dark--practically everything looked black at times. Perhaps it was just a bad print.

UPDATE: It's official, TOYLAND is the winner. This didn't surprise me at all and it was well deserving of the award, though I was still pulling for PIG to take the honors.

Potently seen through the eyes of two young boys, the rise of Nazi-ism is depicted as "David" (Tamay Bulut Ozvatan), a Jew, and his family must make preparations for a trip whilst the mother of the other (Julia Jäger) must make preparations to lie to her son about just what is going on in their country now. They boys have no appreciation of the dangers and so armed with his bear "Little Paul" the two insist on travelling together. Can his mother track down "Heinrich" (Cedric Eich) before it's too late? It's chilling, this film - not just the effects of the snow on the ground but these ghastly yellow stars stitched like targets upon the clothing of the unwilling travellers. The boys think they are going to "Toyland".... Scary stuff well presented with an effective minimum of dialogue.

The moment I heard melancholy piano instrumental played on the background, I felt to be pulled by a film. From a German language actress speaks and her serious reaction to the missing son, I soon noticed it is a story about The Holocaust. At first, it is slightly difficult to follow the story, because it is told from two perspectives of German mother and David, her son, in two timelines. The first scene starts with David's mother going to find David, who is seemingly captured by SS. In the next scene of David and Heinrich playing the piano together, we finally understand why David is missing. One of the most impressive moments is the interaction between the mother and David. The mother cannot honestly tell David the cruel truth about entrainment of Jewish, and instead lies that they will go to "Toyland." Watching unsatisfied David and the conversation between David and Heinrich, Jewish friend of David, we come to see why David vanishes from his bed. On the latter part, I was really thrilled by the struggle to reach David by his mother. In every sequence such as finding the teddy bear, being suspected as Jewish by the police, and final arrival to the train where David is, the contents are considerably concentrated, and I couldn't avert my eyes.

The type of this short film is drama and war. The film was made in 2007.

Heinrich, who is a young boy, plays the piano with his neighbor David.

However, David is a Jewish boy, and one day his family is taken to a camp. Because Heinrich's mother tells him that David's family will go to a toy land, Heinrich wants to go there with them. On the day when David' s family is taken to the camp, Heinrich tries to follow them, getting out his home without his mother realizing it. This is why she is so surprised to see no one in Heinrich's bed, and she starts to look for her son. While looking for him, there are moving dramas.

I really like this film. At first, actually I had difficulty understanding the storyline, but after watching the movie twice I could figure it out. The most impressive point of this film is that Heinrich's mother is incredibly brave and smart. In order to find her son, she looks around a variety of places. Even after she realizes that her son is safe, she never gives up to do something meaningful. As I mentioned above, this film is a little bit hard to understand, but it is definitely worth watching.

the films about Shoah are many. but "Toyland" is different. for its intensity. for its switch. for the exploration of an explanation and a fundamental decision. and, sure, for something who remains out of words. because it is a film about hope. and about miracle in a form who seems so easy to define than remains deep way impressive. a mother, her son, theirs neighbors.and a piano. nothing more but enough for a so intense film, profound provocative, than it becomes a serious challenge for the viewer. to become himself. in better version.