Left Luggage

In 1972, in Antwerp, Chaya (Laura Fraser) is a liberal Jewish student of philosophy living alone. Her father (Maximiliam Schell) spends his time trying to find two pieces of luggage he buried in the Second World War, like he could bring his past back. Her mother (Marianne Saegebrecht) spends her time preparing cakes and sewing, trying not to think in life. In order to raise some money to pay for her rent, Chaya accepts to work as the nanny of two twin babies in an orthodox Jewish home, recommended by her friend Mr. Apfelschnitt (Chaim Topol) to the babies' parents, Mrs. Kalman (Isabella Rossellini) and Mr. Kalman (Jeroen Krabbé). Indeed Chaya feels some kind of affection for their four years old son Simcha (Adam Monty), a boy with serious emotional problems and without speech. Meanwhile, the concierge of the building (David Bradley) is a fascist who hates Jews and Chaya faces him without fear. The story has a very tragic end. This film is a very sad story about losses. The direction and performances of the cast are magnificent. Just as a curiosity, the Brazilian distributor LK-Tel Video wrote the following information in the front cover of the video: `Critics of the site www.imdb.com * As Good As The Schindler's List* ` I noted they used part of the comment made by the user `Sailor Leila (sailor-leila@shomar.co.uk) York, England', who wrote: `In its own way, almost as good as Schindler's List'. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `Amor e Dor' (`Love and Pain')

Since I live in Israel, I've seen many films about the Hassidic community, but I've never seen a film that combines two of the heaviest subjects in Israeli society. The connection between the two main woman characters (Chaya and Mrs. Kalman), the connection in silence between Chaya and Mr. Kalman, and most important, the connection between Chaya and Simcha, which was nipped in the bud, we're all magnificently described. It also introduces the viewer to the closed worlds of both the Hassidics and the Holocaust Survivors. Excellent, touching and interesting.

There are movies about the tension between secular and religious Jews, and movies about Holocaust survivors. This one is both.

Chaiyah, a Jewish college-aged woman in Antwerp, Belgium, couldn't care less about her family's stories, and she finds the Chasidim to be particularly weird. A child of the sexual revolution, she's concerned with having a good time.

Through a family friend, she finds a job as a nanny for a Chasidic family. Although she's ready to quit the first day, she quickly develops a — no, a kinship — with the youngest boy with severe emotional difficulties. The boy, Simcha, can't speak, even though he's four, and when he's under pressure, he wets himself. Chaiyah brings him out. He begins talking, and even sings the Mah Nishtanah at the Seder.

The film shows us reasons for the Chasidic father's seeming aloofness to the youngest son, overt and less than overt anti-Semitism in Europe ("You don't look Jewish.") , and the ways the older generation has of dealing or coping with the past.

As the film progresses, Chaiyah becomes bonded with her people, which I think is the meaning of the final scene.

Some of the scenes can't really be appreciated without an understanding of Jewish culture and practice. I think this is particularly true of one of the late scenes between the two main women characters. It really floored me.

It's a real tear-jerker, but it's not without its happy moments.

You have to like this kind of movies to fully appreciate this movie. It's a typical character drama, meaning that there is not really a story, in terms of having a beginning and an end, with in between a story that connects the beginning with the end but it more has a story that slowly and realistically develops, making the events in this movie realistic, documentary like occurrences.

The movie really relies on its characters, with a good result. The actors are all in top form and there are some well known names present in this movie, such as Oscar winner and multiple nominee Maximilian Schell, Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee Isabella Rossellini and also Academy Award nominee Topol, who in this movie is credited with his birth name Chaim Topol, an obvious Jewish name. Topol is perhaps best known to the general public for playing Milos Columbo in the James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only" or for his role in the cult camp-classic "Flash Gordon". Also director Jeroen Krabbé himself plays a solid part in the movie, as well as the main character, played by the beautiful, talented, young and sadly (still) mostly unknown Laura Fraser.

The way the story is slowly told and developed is done nicely. It gives the movie a true heart and soul and gives the characters and events some real good emotions. The story focuses mainly on the first generation of Jews born after WW II. The emotions by the parents are still present and fresh, while the children just want to move on and don't want to look back at the past. As the story develops the perspective of the youth, through the eyes of the main character Chaya on the past and the Jewish culture changes of course.

The drama is strong and the story is solid. It however is obvious at times that Jeroen Krabbé isn't the most experienced movie director around. There are some minor weaknesses in the directing of some sequences but all in all most certainly not a bad directing debut for Krabbé, who will most likely grow more and more stronger in the near future with his directing skills.

And for the ones who are interested; The Nino this movie is dedicated to, was the nearly 2 year old baby boy of the screenwriter of this movie Edwin de Vries and well known Dutch actress Monique van de Ven, who died of meningitis.

8/10

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"Left Luggage" is an interesting effort to deal with children of Holocaust survivors, not a common subject in films.

The child here is a vibrant, secular college student in 1970's Antwerp dealing with her haunted parents and her new employers, a Hassidic family.

It's an international co-production--Isabella Rossellini is actually creditable as the Hassidic mother and Maximillan Schell who has had a huge career playing Nazis is quite good as the unreligious Jewish father. It pushes too many, way too many schmaltzy buttons (yeah yeah, I cried about the adorable sort-of developmentally disabled kid that the young woman is the nanny for, but come on, and comparing reactions to the Nazis to standing up to a crazy, anti-Semitic elevator operator is a bit much).

The changes that the woman goes through relate mostly to her dealings with her parents and they with her, though the changes she puts the Hassidic family through are more moving.

There's an indication of an impact on her own sense of Jewish identity when she finally declares herself Jewish to her gentile best friend and some impact on her romantic life when she kicks her leechy Marxist blond, blue-eyed boyfriend out of her bed, but that's more to do with her independent streak.

(originally written 10/22/2000)