Anyone who has a relatively recent immigrant background, or 2nd generation like myself, would probably relate to the characters in this film, especially 'Rose'. I saw it years ago and have never forgotten how deeply I felt for all the characters. It's a simple story, but the complexity comes as ghosts from the past turn up and each of the 3 main characters move through unresolved emotions and memories. Kyra, Amanda and Maximilian are amazingly convincing. You know when you watch modern tellings of periods past, and it's just not right, from the makeup, hair, the mannerisms, the dialog, the attitudes. It just doesn't convince and spoils the authenticity. They got this just right. Max and Amanda are standout performers here, even though I knew the accents weren't as authentic, it really didn't matter as much as how deeply they both inhabit their characters. I couldn't see anyone else acting in their roles.
One thing I really appreciated was they didn't sugar coat the darkness of war, genocide, murder. Something tells me, if they made this film today, they would have tried to whitewash or over sentimentalise so it would become bland, insipid and more 'commercial'. I don't know what's happened in the last 20+ years since they made this film, but it really does seem like film makers are taking less chances and going for quantity over quality. But that my rant over.
If you get the chance to see (tip: I found it on YT), please do. I've given it a 9, as I thought they could make it bit longer to tell Davids story, the film somewhat finished before we got to know anything about him.
NOTE to IMDB: The film description is wrong, it says 'Italian' but it's about a Jewish family.
