In the film, Anita is taken to live with her Aunt Monica and her family in Czechoslovakia where she spends her days trapped inside taking care of their son Robbie and telling him of her time in Auschwitz because no one else will listen. She soon falls in love with Eli and becomes pregnant, but when he pressures her to abort the child, she escapes to Jerusalem to start a new life for herself.
The beauty of Anita B. derives from the remarkable detail brought to a simple and truthful storyline through incredible acting. Though most of the film simply shows Anita working through her daily routine, her emotions are worn for everyone to see and make her an extremely sympathetic character. Powell beautifully portrays the innocence of a young woman confused by her station in life and longing for some affection and security. Her superb acting is accompanied by that of Sheehan, who plays Eli. Throughout the story, it is difficult to make a decision about his character. At times he is lovable and sweet to Anita and in others he is so vile that it is impossible to understand how she could love him. One of the most heart wrenching moments in the film is when he tells Anita that the last thing he wants is to bring a child into that world. This complex moment truly shows the three dimensionality of his character. The death of his fiancée has destroyed his faith in the world and he cannot fathom knowingly bringing a child into the harsh society in which he is forced to live.
The film is also incredibly well written and executed cinematically. The story clearly demonstrates that everyone at that time was effected by the Holocaust in some way or another and that there was no good way to deal with the aftermath of all that pain. Anita takes comfort in describing her experiences to Robbie as a sort of therapy, but Monica plagued with the guilt of a survivor, refuses to acknowledge that anything had even happened. She copes by blocking out the past instead of remembering and learning from it. Then there is David, Anita's confidante who follows the path of many young Jewish people at the time and decides to escape the death of his parents by going to Jerusalem, and of course Eli who has taken to pessimism and women in order to numb the pain of it all. Each character is faced with the challenge of trying to move on and the difficulty of that task is executed masterfully throughout the film. The film also transports the viewer into this time period through cinematic choices made to give it the look of a much older film. The sepia quality used not only ages the movie, but also creates an essence of darkness and despair that suits the time period.
The beauty of Anita B. derives from the remarkable detail brought to a simple and truthful storyline through incredible acting. Though most of the film simply shows Anita working through her daily routine, her emotions are worn for everyone to see and make her an extremely sympathetic character. Powell beautifully portrays the innocence of a young woman confused by her station in life and longing for some affection and security. Her superb acting is accompanied by that of Sheehan, who plays Eli. Throughout the story, it is difficult to make a decision about his character. At times he is lovable and sweet to Anita and in others he is so vile that it is impossible to understand how she could love him. One of the most heart wrenching moments in the film is when he tells Anita that the last thing he wants is to bring a child into that world. This complex moment truly shows the three dimensionality of his character. The death of his fiancée has destroyed his faith in the world and he cannot fathom knowingly bringing a child into the harsh society in which he is forced to live.
The film is also incredibly well written and executed cinematically. The story clearly demonstrates that everyone at that time was effected by the Holocaust in some way or another and that there was no good way to deal with the aftermath of all that pain. Anita takes comfort in describing her experiences to Robbie as a sort of therapy, but Monica plagued with the guilt of a survivor, refuses to acknowledge that anything had even happened. She copes by blocking out the past instead of remembering and learning from it. Then there is David, Anita's confidante who follows the path of many young Jewish people at the time and decides to escape the death of his parents by going to Jerusalem, and of course Eli who has taken to pessimism and women in order to numb the pain of it all. Each character is faced with the challenge of trying to move on and the difficulty of that task is executed masterfully throughout the film. The film also transports the viewer into this time period through cinematic choices made to give it the look of a much older film. The sepia quality used not only ages the movie, but also creates an essence of darkness and despair that suits the time period.