I just couldn't get through the best-selling book of the same name. So I'm surprised to be brought to tears by its engrossing and passionate film adaptation. Here's hoping the novel's fans can appreciate everything on the screen as opposed to griping about what may have been left out (a rare occurrence).
Calling this a "holocaust film" ignores its two major themes: (1) family secrets prove no match for a journalist's desire to connect the dots to reveal the "mystery history" behind them; (2) when an entire country buries its past (in this case, France), it silences the stories of unlikely heroes in the process -- but rarely forever.
"Sarah's Key" deserves more than the limited release it has gotten so far, perhaps due to the "holocaust film assumption" and some lukewarm reviews. This cinematic gem is as flawlessly cast, directed, scripted and paced as the Weinstein Company's triumph of last year "The King's Speech" -- and just as deserving of Oscar attention.
Dramas based on historical events are frequently budgeted and filmed as already-familiar sweeping sagas told on a grand scale. By trusting in its characters rather than its big events to move the plot and the audience, "Sarah's Key" gives us a new cinematic template with which to examine and portray the past and why it organically enthralls us today.
Calling this a "holocaust film" ignores its two major themes: (1) family secrets prove no match for a journalist's desire to connect the dots to reveal the "mystery history" behind them; (2) when an entire country buries its past (in this case, France), it silences the stories of unlikely heroes in the process -- but rarely forever.
"Sarah's Key" deserves more than the limited release it has gotten so far, perhaps due to the "holocaust film assumption" and some lukewarm reviews. This cinematic gem is as flawlessly cast, directed, scripted and paced as the Weinstein Company's triumph of last year "The King's Speech" -- and just as deserving of Oscar attention.
Dramas based on historical events are frequently budgeted and filmed as already-familiar sweeping sagas told on a grand scale. By trusting in its characters rather than its big events to move the plot and the audience, "Sarah's Key" gives us a new cinematic template with which to examine and portray the past and why it organically enthralls us today.