Le Dernier des hommes

As part of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, my wife and I saw this little gem tonight in a packed theater, and not giving anything away for this is a journey film, in part a road trip between an old man trying to prove he is a Jew while all relatives and documents were destroyed years ago during the inferno of the Shoah. His traveling companion grows to love and respect him. She is young and while Turkish in Germany, also knows the cut-off that happens in life. Together they head off to find whatever proof they can. There's good humor here too, but the ending is quite powerful. Be prepared to accept the ride as a bargain.

Note - eventually the last survivors of the Holocaust, as with World War II, will pass on and then the deniers can have their day. As a survivor of the World Trade Center, and knowing that someday the last of US will also pass on, it is most thoughtful on a personal level.

Remember and respect.

"The Last Mentsch" (2014 release from Germany; 89 min.) brings the story of Marcus Schwarz. As the movie opens, we get to know the old guy as he walks around with the skyline of Cologne, Germany in the background.. He attends the funeral of a card-playing buddy of his, and Schwarz realizes he needs to prepare for his own passing as well. Schwarz approaches a Jewish cemetery but is denied the opportunity to buy a burial place as he cannot prove that he is Jewish, even after showing his Auschwitz prisoner number tattooed on his left arm. Schwarz (original family name: Teitelbaum) is determined to find the necessary proof, and decides to visit his original hometown in Hungary to hopefully dig up his birth certificate. He enlists the help of a young woman to be his driver ("I don't take the train anymore", Schwarz chillingly observes). At this point we are 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this movie is all about (re)discovering a Jewish identity. Unclear is why after surviving Auschwitz, this character went to such extreme lengths to hide his Jewish background (other than simply being scared, I suppose). Also unclear is how exactly Schwarz is connected to the young woman who decides to drive him to Hungary (a friend of a friend, I believe). Also unclear to me is whether the refusal of the synagogue officials to accept the old man's Jewish identity reflect reality, I mean it blows the mind (comments Schwarz after yet another refusal: "really? It took the Germans 30 seconds to establish my Jewish identity", wow). After the initial 10-15 min., the film mostly plays out as a road movie where the journey is as important, if not more so, than the destiny. Much of the movie's success depends on the interplay between the old man and the young woman, and at that it mostly succeeds. The old man is play by legendary German actor Mario Adorf (1979's "The Tin Drum", 1981's "Lola"), who was a crisp 83 or so when this movie was made). The young woman is played by up-and-coming German actress Katharina Derr.

I recently saw this movie in the theater as part of the 2017 Israeli & Jewish Film Festival here in Cincinnati, a 3 week long celebration of the best movies out of Israel and Jewish-themed movies in general. "The Last Mentsch" is actually a few years old, no idea why it has taken so long to get it here, but better late than never I suppose. If you are in the mood for a reflective film-cum road movie about the significance of the Jewish identity, you cannot go wrong with "The Last Mentsch".

But more like people trying to tell you what you are or what you can't be. Adorf a very well known German actor is in the main role and he has the issue of trying to move forward, while putting the past aside. He has to confront some demons, but the way to get where he wants is being blocked by many sides. Some might call this melodramatic, but it can also be seen as a human story.

It's a road movie, where it's not about where you end up, but how you get there and how many people you influence or have influenced in the past along the way. It's very well made, though it might be a bit too slow for a lot of people. If you get into the rhythm of the movie, you'll likely "enjoy" the ride. Inspiring and emotional

The European film Der letzte Mentsch (2014) was shown in the U.S. with the title The Last Mentsch. (Note: The Yiddish word Mentsch or Mensch literally means human being. However, in Yiddish, it often carries the connotation of an honorable, decent, caring human being.) The movie was co-written and directed by Pierre-Henry Salfati.

Mario Adorf plays Marcus Schwarz. Schwarz is a Hungarian Holocaust survivor, who ended up in Germany after the war, and stayed there. He gave up his Jewish identity--his original name was Menachem Teitelbaum. As Schwarz gets older, he decides he'd like to be buried in a Jewish cemetery. This isn't possible, because he can't prove that he's Jewish. (Hard to believe that if someone said he was a Jew, and showed the concentration camp tattoo on his arm, that he'd be turned away. However, apparently that was the reality.)

In order to prove he's a Jew, Schwarz has to travel to his native village in Hungary to find documentation that he's a Jew. He enlists a young Turkish woman, Gül (Katharina Derr), to drive him.

What follows is essentially a road movie, as Schwarz and Gül drive through Hungary trying to find evidence of Schwarz's Jewish identity. Surprisingly, Schwarz finds the same reaction from the rabbis in Hungary as he did from the rabbis in Germany. They want evidence. How can Schwarz find evidence when the records have been burned, and most of his relatives died in the Holocaust or have perished since? Schwarz points out that the Germans weren't so fastidious. It took them 30 seconds to decide he was a Jew, and they didn't require any documentation.

In his travels, Schwarz meets Ethel, a blind woman who has been waiting for her lover since the war ended, and accepts him as that lover. (Ethel is played by the wonderful German actor Hannelore Eisner.)

The plot of the movie unfolds from this point. I never could tell in which direction the plot would turn, and the film held me spellbound from beginning to end. The ending was as dramatic as it was unexpected.

This was the best film we saw at the highly regarded Rochester International Jewish Film Festival. We saw it on the large screen at Rochester's Dryden Theatre, but it will work well on the small screen also. This is a must-see film if you want strong drama. There's a King Lear quality to it that you won't want to miss. Seek it out and see it!

Note: another strong drama shown at the RIJFF was "Gett." We had to miss it, but we bought the DVD. We'll watch it soon and I'll review it for IMDb. I've been told it's as good as Der Letze Mentsch, so that's probably another movie you don't want to miss.