Wunderkinder

There are films that amuse, films that thrill, films that have designs upon your emotions, and then there are films like Wunderkinder, the 2011 film which take us into that heart of darkness into the essence of human-ness…

There are films that amuse, films that thrill, films that have designs upon your emotions, and then there are films like Wunderkinder, the 2011 film by German director Markus Rosenmuller, which take us into that heart of darkness into the essence of human-ness.

Set in the Ukraine in 1941, it tells the story of three madly talented children, whose love for and skill at music brings them together, despite the fact that two of the children are Jewish, and the other is ethnic German.

The rest of the narrative is heart-breakingly familiar; Hitler invades the Soviet Union and the spectre of the Holocaust, dividing peoples along ‘ethnic’ or ‘racial’ lines, intrudes into the children’s friendship. As individuals, as families, and as a society, human courage and endurance become the watchstones for the ways in which we assess and appraise these characters.

The power of this rendition of what can be a grueling story resides in the casting – the three children whose parts are key to the plot are natural, delightful, real. Rosenmuller avoids schmaltz, perfectly pitching this account of a past many would prefer to forget.

Films about the Holocaust are not everyone’s idea of a great night out, but this new rendition of an old, tragic story both bears witness and provides insight. Do go.

By Lane Hannah
8 September 2012