They encounter refugees by the score, Allied patrols, lonesome widows, and rough survivalists. Their travels are a road-trip through post-war Germany. Lore, Liesel (Nele Trebs), and the twins set off with their infant brother Peter to cross the forest to grandmother’s house. “The Americans have special prisons for boys like you,” they threaten. One of the twins, Gunther or Jurgen (André Frid and Mika Seidel), stole some bread. The neighbors seem to resent the clean, healthy children, and it doesn’t take long for them to find a reason to force them to leave. The children “Heil Hitler” their neighbors, but the greeting is not returned. Mother thinks her children will be safer without her, and in the capable hands of teenaged Lore. Later, her pregnant mother (Ursina Lardi) suffers a miscarriage, timed with the news of the death of the Fuhrer.īefore long, mother sets off on foot to face the courts - a nice vague, plausible explanation for the kids. Lore inspects a fragment of ash - a photograph of Adolf Hitler, burning into nothing. While playing on the hillside, they see a cloud of ash start raining down. The children arrive at their summer home, but it’s not a holiday. Only at the end does the most mature child begin to understand what the audience already knows. That ironic perspective is there throughout the film the children see the world one way, but audiences have the bigger picture in their heads. The movie takes the point of view of the children, who aren’t quite sure why everything has changed, but of course audiences will easily understand the historical context of 1944 Germany. Before they go, they burn papers, flags, and uniforms in a big bonfire on the driveway. One day her uniformed father arrives in a dither and their quiet life becomes immediately hectic: suddenly they have to leave, as quickly as possible, for their second home in the mountains. Rosendahl makes her serious, fearful, courageous, yet still less than an adult. Saskia Rosendahl plays Lore, the oldest daughter of 5 children in an upper-class family.
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