Thursday, October 21, 2010

Jason goes to Jewfest South, Sunday October 17th

Just had time for one movie last Sunday night, A SECRET. A story that spans a generation in a family of survivors

During the Holocaust, the Grinbergs changed to Grimbert, and changed from Jewish to Catholic. After the war, young, insecure, unathletic Francois Grimbert is something of a disappointment to his father. Particularly, that "unathletic" part. See, both his father and mother were great athletes, which sort of makes him an oddity. But through flashbacks we learn the secret of his family's former Judaism, his father's former wife, his deceased half-brother, and the tragic circumstances around them. It's a solid drama of what it takes to survive, and sometimes the simple tasks (such as keeping a secret about yourself) that make survival impossible.

Against typical convention the "present day" scenes are in black and white, while the past is in color. It took me a while to figure that out, but once I did I kind of dug the "happy memories of the past" vs. the "bleak present" feeling. However, it did confuse me for long enough that now I want to see it again. In fact, this film originally played at the festival in 2008, and is brought back as a "Best of the Best" offering. I wonder how I missed it back then?

Running Time: 110 minutes
My Total Minutes: 211,684

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