Just as the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin is based on a historical tragedy,
Jean-Claude Grumberg’s novella fable is clearly inspired by very real and very
tragic events. He would know. Grumberg’s father was murdered in Auschwitz. Despite
the Jew-hatred they always accepted, a reluctant wood-cutter and his wife
protect a tiny would-be victim in Michel Hazanavicius’s animated feature, The
Most Precious of Cargoes, which releases today on DVD.
Wood-cutters
pop up regularly in fairy tales, but it will take a while for the taciturn,
barrel-chested man to display the stout-heartedness they are often associated
with. He and his aging wife never had children of their own, which he
eventually accepted. However, when she saves an infant dropped from a transport
bound to Auschwitz (never truly named, but clearly identifiable from its grimly
distinctive entrance), she literally interprets it as the answer to her
prayers.
Initially,
the Wood-cutter adamantly opposes keeping the child, regurgitating the classic antisemitic
tropes that Jews are warmongers and monsters, who killed Christ. In fact, “the
Heartless” is the ironic shorthand his fellow wood-cutters use to demonize
Jews. Yet, the little girl melts the gruff man’s heart just when she will most
need his protection.
As narrator
Jean-Louis Trintignant clearly states (in his final screen credit), this will
not be a fairy tale—but it clearly employs many of the traditional elements of
Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. Indeed, the Wood-cutter’s forest holds distinctly
gothic overtones. However, when the action shifts to the concentration camp, the
film takes on an expressionistic style worthy of Edvard Munch. By largely avoiding
literal representations, it becomes one of the more powerful cinematic
depictions of the Holocaust.
Ironically, a zombie apocalypse breaks out while a film crew is shooting a zombie
movie. But wait, there’s more—as those who have seen Shinichiro Ueda’s One Cut of the Dead already know. However, this is sort of a remake and also
sort of a sequel. Apparently, it all transpires in a universe where One Cut exists,
but the production is plagued (so to speak) by similar problems. It isn’t easy
directing zombies in Michel Hazanavicius’s Final Cut, which opens today
in New York.
This
time around Higurashi doesn’t look like a Higurashi, but he is just as
deranged. Quite irresponsibly, he has invoked a WWII-era zombie curse to illicit
more convincing performances from his beleaguered cast. They too have distinctly
Japanese names, despite speaking French. All will be explained eventually.
It
is interesting to watch Final Cut, for the “first time,” while knowing
the big twists. It allows fans of One Cut to appreciate the ways
Hazanavicius tweaked the material and how he stayed faithful to the spirit of
the original film. Reviewing three similar takes on Invisible Guest was
probably one too many, but Hazanavicius’s clever in-film references to One
Cut help differentiate Final Cut. In some ways, they also make the
French remake/sequel/side-film even nuttier.
Romain
Duris and Berenice Bejo are terrific as the Higurashi the director and Natsumi
the make-up artist. They sort of play against type—and then they don’t—but they
both use their winning screen charismas to full effect. Lyes Salem and
Jean-Pascal Zadi are also very funny as the producer and composer-sound
designer.
