El último traje

The Argentinian film El último traje was shown in the U.S. with the translated title of The Last Suit. It was written and directed by Pablo Solarz.

The movie stars Miguel Ángel Solá as Abraham Bursztein, a Holocaust survivor now living safely, if not happily, in Argentina. He decides on the spur of the moment to travel back to Poland to say goodbye to a friend who saved his life.

This is actually a road movie, with many twists and turns and adventures along the route. Part of the film adopts the plot of King Lear, which is very strange. Part of it slides toward magical realism. However, it's always interesting and never boring.

Miguel Ángel Solá is a superb actor. This film would not be worth watching if an inferior actor played Abraham. Solá carries it off with skill and conviction.

We watched this movie on the large screen at the excellent Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum. It was shown as part of the wonderful Rochester Jewish Film Festival. The film has a weak IMDb rating of 6.9. Don't be deterred by the low rating. It's a movie to be sought out and enjoyed.

I loved this movie, an unexpected gem. Brilliant acting from Miguel Ángel Solá as a Jewish holocaust survivor who seeks to fulfil a promise from his time in the ghetto.

We saw this surprising and completely successful film at a recent festival. El último traje follows the journey of Holocaust survivor Abraham Bursztein as he drags himself and his bad leg from Argentina to Poland against the strong wishes of his family. Despite his age (late 80's), general grumpiness, and inexperience as a traveler, Abraham finds help from a number of remarkably well-realized characters along the way. The excellent (and quite handsome) actor Miguel Ángel Solá put on 20 years of makeup to look every bit his character's age, and manages to infuse Abraham with human qualities that make him appealing almost despite himself. The one drawback of the film is an unnecessary and distracting King Lear plot contrivance. But overall, this solitary journey to the past - paralleling and contrasting with another recent, similar solitary journey in the excellent film "Remember' - is first-rate. The end had my wife and me bawling. Enjoy it.

"The Last Suit" (2017 release from Argentina; original title "El ultimo traje"; 91 min.) brings the story of Abraham Bursztein, a very old and ailing Jewish tailor. As the movie opens, Abraham's family is getting ready to move him to a retirement home, against Abraham's express wishes. When his housekeeper asks what to do with a certain suit she finds, he decides on the spur of the moment to trek out to Poland. He waits for his family to leave (expecting to pick him up the next morning to take his to the retirement home). Instead, Abraham takes off for the airport, where a flight to Madrid is the first flight to Europe... At this point we are less than 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: it took me a while to get into the movie, to be honest. At first we don't understand what is so important about that suit, and why exactly he wants to go to Poland, but of course all is revealed in due course. The core of the movie is Abraham, in frail health, getting from Buenos Aires to Poland via planes, trains and automobiles. Braham is played with grace and humor by noted Argentinean actor Miguel Angel Sola. And any movie that finds a spot for Natalia Verbeke is a winner for me!

I recently saw "The Last Suite" at the 2019 Jewish & Israeli Film Festival here in Cincinnati, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this years. More often than not, the festival's programming committee puts together a great slate of interesting and thought-provoking films. If you have a chance to see "The Last Suit", do not miss it!

A movie that will leave you filled with emotion. When it ends, you wish it didn't. A heartfelt story of love and determination. A reminder of a period of time of the horrors that occurred during World War 11. A touching movie that you will admire.