Lore

This Australian/German co-production tells the story of five German children abandoned by their SS officer father and Hitler-loving mother and left to survive on their own at the end of World War II. Lead by the eldest daughter Lore, played by the striking Saskia Rosendahl, the children must trek across their devastated country, which is now divided by the various occupying Allied countries. This strong premise and unique perspective is spoiled by director Cate Shortland’s horrendously “arty” shooting style. Everything is photographed in handheld close-ups with shallow depth-of-field, causing the picture to go in and out of focus, and edited in the intentionally frenetic style favored by far too many these days. This is a cinematic aesthetic that rarely works for me but in the context of a period piece like this one it only acts to keep the viewer at a distance and hinder any authentic recreation of the era in which the story takes place. I’m sure this “modern” approach is supposed to help contemporary audiences relate to these characters, but it has the opposite effect.

A film like this should put an audience into the perspective of desperate and destitute young Germans after the terrifying loss of everything they believed or understood, which could have been enlightening, since we are used to seeing this story through the eyes of the Jews. The film’s opening is strong, with Lore and her family trying to pack anything valuable that they can carry with them to their uncertain future. Lore also features an intriguing subplot about a young man who helps the children along the way. They come to trust and rely on him despite the fact that he may be a Jew. This storyline, and Lore’s confused attraction / repulsion for this young man, is handled well in terms of the script, but the direction, photography and editing smother it along with every other potentially interesting aspect of this story.