Moi Ivan, toi Abraham

An enjoyable, somewhat sombre film about two boys growing up in pre-WWII Poland. Ivan is Catholic and works as an apprentice for a rich Jewish landowner. Ivan is good friends with Abraham, the affluent landowner's grandson. The old man then instructs Abraham not be friends with Ivan as the latter is a 'goy'. The two boys decide to run away. Interesting back-drop: a bucolic landscape where the poor peasants, mostly Catholic, work for the rich and rather selfish landowner. An undercurrent of mutual dislike runs through the community; the anti-Semitic workers, the Jews viewing themselves as better as the rest… It all an allegory of problems to rise in Poland a few years later. Using black and white as medium for a 1993 film? It works surprisingly well in this case. The great music score and good acting helped to make this an enjoyable cinematic experience.

Abraham is 9 years old, a Jewish lad in a Polish shtetl in the late 1930's. This shtetl is not like the one in Fiddler on the Roof. It is positively Middle Ages, all dirt roads and rough huts, poor peasants and rich landlords. A hardscrabble existence at the best of times, but about to be blown into oblivion by the start of World War 2.

Ivan is 14 years old, a Christian boy sent to live in the Jewish shtetl to learn a trade from Abraham's father.

Roma Alexandrovitch plays Abraham, and Alexandr (Sacha) Yakovitch plays Ivan. The differences between these two boys, and also their similarities, serve as allegories to the great troubles about to enfold Europe.

The boys are fond of each other, to the point of comparing their Jewish and Christian differences by playing doctor in the haystacks. Yet their affection will be severely tried, as events beyond their control split the shtetl.

The local rich landlord sells the land and displaces the tenants, an allegory to the coming shoa of the Polish Jews.

The boys run away, but are mistaken for Gypsies. Another allegory to the fate of the Gypsies under the German invaders.

This movie is brooding and dark. Only the boys affection brings any light. Yet, how can a story about the early stages of World War 2 be anything but sombre?