Lore Review: A Visceral Experience About A Disturbing Legacy

rating:3.5

Spoken entirely in German, this eye-opening film tells of the experiences of German teenager Lore, played by Saskia Rosendahl, who must lead her family across Germany just after is has surrendered at the end of the Second World War. With both of her Nazi parents imprisoned by the Allies for their part in the Holocaust, Lore must traipse across the country with her younger brothers and sister to find her Grandmother in Hamburg. Their journey is lengthy and they must barter with the little possessions they have for food and medicine along the way. Bloodied corpses lie unburied and strewn across the land. Society has crumbled, leaving evil to lurk everywhere and there is no escaping the horrific events that have past unbeknown to the young family, with haunting images plastered everywhere of the ghastly crimes committed by the Nazis. Australian director, Cate Shortland, does magnificently in portraying a country that has been well and truly bound under the wicked spell of indoctrination. The worshipping of Adolf Hitler remains as stringently after his death as when he was alive and I found myself becoming vocally interactive with the film upon hearing rumours amongst the German people that the American soldiers tortured children for fun and that the images of the Holocaust were staged by actors. However, I found there was little progression throughout the film. The introduction of Thomas, a German citizen pretending to be a Jew in an attempt to avoid prosecution by the Allies, is done so in an odd fashion. After attempting to rape Lore, he then aids the group of children in their journey across the country. The relationship between Lore and Thomas is left to us to decipher. Lore appears to be fighting a battle within herself over her affections towards him. He claims to be Jewish; she has been brought up to despise the Jews. Yet despite this, she finds herself succumbing to temptation and instigating sexual advances towards him, but this is where I become somewhat confused. Thomas rejects her advances only to do the same to her a little later on in the film, with the outcome the same. Are we therefore left to feel as if we are witnessing a country turning in on itself, with confusion fuelling the chaos within society? It must be said that the entire film is visually stunning. Despite the fact that the country as a whole has become a dying wreck, Shortland uses the natural world superbly throughout the film, with the majority of action set within endless woodland and forestry. The youthfulness of the main characters are captured superbly in a multitude of slow-motion scenes. Although simple in their nature, they capture the true innocence of the young characters perfectly and Shortland deserves merit for her symbolism throughout the film. As fascinating as it was to observe a country turning in on itself, I struggled to deduce who this movie was aimed for. It is far easier to conclude what Shortland's movie stands for. All in all, despite being tough to swallow, the result is a rewarding viewing experience. The disturbing legacy left by the Nazis is portrayed sterlingly by the Australian director, who interestingly doesn't speak a word of German!