1941 Review

I was sent a copy for review and as somebody who has watched many holocaust tales and seen a few angles on the story was not expecting this one.

It showed not only a story from the Polish side of the atrocities of war, but it showed the measures humans go to to stay alive and the sacrifices a man and woman make in their love for each other in times of hardship.

I do not want to spoil the story, so I will just briefly touch on parts not mentioned below and endeavour to leave you wanting to see it.

 It is set in the present  and 1941 Clara comes to back to her homeland and finds the past and places coming back to haunt her and we see the past  through her eyes. Fear and loss are apparent from the start.

I found the film to have a very profound effect on me, making me think about the desperate measure humans take to survive an enemy. Watching a family disintegrate and how obsessive love can control people.

 It shows a man Artur trying to do the right thing in protecting his family, feeling duty and gratitude to their saviour Emilia and you also see from brutal scenes with the Nazis how is able to make it sit with his conscience.

 The love triangle is his wife Clara suffering and uncertain and wanting to save her child, so too making sacrifice in handing over her husbands affections.  Then Emilia who despite seeming self serving, even cruel in her coveting another woman's husband,  still being a gentile and risking her life and farm by helping Jewish family and risking death.

Its a strong passionate and  if you are a fan of war stories such as Defiance and The Pianist, I believe you will enjoy the film.

If you like a tale of love and betrayal again give it a go.

The performances of the three main characters are superb and it was an hour and a half well spent.

Not your average Valentine's movie but perhaps more about love than the usual rom com.

 

On release in time for Valentine’s 2011 and the perfect gift for a quiet night in and fans of romantic drama’s

A story of desperation, survival, passion and betrayal, 1941 is a classic film which portrays the story of a Jewish family fighting for its survival in the Second World War and the tangled web of lies and deceit that ensue.

Clara Planck (Clare Higgins) is a gifted cellist whose star is on the rise, while her husband Artur Planck (Joseph Fiennes) is a successful doctor and the father of her two children. But Clara and Artur are Jewish, and in Poland in 1941, that puts them in grave danger as Nazi forces take control of the country and exile Polish Jews to the ghetto.

Clara and Artur flee Warsaw for the countryside, where Emilia (Kelly Harrison) offers to to give them refuge and allows the family to hide in the attic of her home. She welcomes having Artur around the house to help with the many chores on the farm as her husband has been sent off to war.

But what begins as friendship between Artur and Emilia soon turns into love, and they begin an affair which leads to her becoming pregnant. If Artur continues the affair it could destroy his relationship with Clara and his children; but if he rejects Emilia he runs the risk of having his lover inform on him to the authorities.

“1941” will appeal to true romantics and those who enjoy wartime love stories and of course fans of Joseph Fiennes himself!

 

“1941” is brought to DVD under licence by PointBlank.

The DVD is released on February 14th 2011 and retails at £14.99 from Amazon .co.uk and all good retailers.