10/11/2006

Five US titles and one Indian documentary face little competition from German films this week with only one 100% local title on release: The Last Train by Joseph Vilsmaier, the director and DoP behind such historical films as Autumn Milk (1988) and the 1920’s-set Comedian Harmonists (1997).

Starring Sibel Kekilli, The Last Train describes the horrifying train journey of 700 Jews from Berlin to Auschwitz. Produced by Artur Brauner for CCC Filmkunst, the film is distributed by Concorde. It depicts – without any superficiality – the heat, hunger and thirst from which half of its passengers die, a horror that contrasts with their previous lives, shown to us through flashbacks..

Carlos Echeverria’s documentary Pakt des Schweigens – das zweite Leben des Erich Priebke (lit. “Pact of Silence: The Second Life of Erich Priebke”) – distributed by Progress – is similar to Vilsmaier’s film in that it recounts the double life of a former SS officer who flees to Argentina to run a German school before his extradition to Germany, where he is currently serving his sentence.

Meanwhile, distributor Movienet have released German/Slovenian co-production Warchild by Christian Wagner. The film centres on the search of a mother (Labina Mitevska) who discovers that her daughter – who she thought she had lost forever during the Bosnian War – was one of the many children sent abroad for adoption.

Three other European releases this week are French documentary Le malentendu colonial (lit. “The Colonial Disagreement”) by Jean-Marie Teno (dist. EZEF) and Spanish features Madeinusa by Claudia Llosa (Kairos-Filmverleih) and 7 Virgins [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Alberto Rodriguez (Kool).

(Translated from French)