DVD Review - Fateless

Lajos Koltai directs this amazing film about the Holocaust as told through the eyes of a teenage boy. The story is based on a novel written by Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertesz who also wrote the screenplay.

Gyuri Koves appears to be just like any boy of fourteen and a half. But, his life is turned upside down when his father is sent to a labor camp just because he is a Jew. Gyuri lives with his stepmother but also makes time for his real mother. He is also close to his neighbors in his tight knit Jewish community. Gyuri has special papers which enables him to travel around Budapest so that he can work. One day on his way to work the bus he is on is stopped and all Jews are ordered to get off. A great number of Jews are rounded up and then detained. In the end they are all sent off to concentration camps. Gyuri winds up in Auschwitz but he is eventually transferred to Buchenwald to do hard labor.

The film is unsparing in showing what happens to Gyuri. He starts out as a handsome boy with a beautiful head of curls and becomes an emaciated ghost of his former self. But, no matter how bad things get Gyuri seems to accept things as they are and just tries to survive. The film feels so real that you think you are right there with the prisoners. There is a scene in which the prisoners are standing in the yard and the camera shows them from different angles. You can see many of the prisoners swaying and trembling because they are in such bad shape and it is hard for them to stand. You see one prisoner fall down from lack of strength. There is another scene of just one prisoner trying to stay up but almost hitting the ground. It is hard to believe that something so ugly could look so beautiful but you just can't keep your eyes off the film. Daniel Craig has a cameo as a GI who is helping to liberate the camp. He also happens to be Jewish and he tells Gyuri not to go back to Hungary but to start a new life in Sweden,
Switzerland or the US. But, Gyuri feels that he has no other choice but to go home.

It is no wonder that this film looks as great as it does. It is Koltai's first film as a director but he has been the cinematographer on many films and has frequently worked with Istvan Szabo. This is a terrific first feature and I look forward to seeing what he does next. Kertesz's screenplay is sharp and truly conveys the feeling of someone who has lived through these horrible events. Gyula Padus' cinematography is gorgeous and Ennio Morricone's beautiful score puts tears in your eyes. And, Marcell Nagy as Gyuri is outstanding. He was only twelve when he made this film and I think that he has a great future as an actor if that is what he wants.

The DVD has a making of featurette and an interview with Kertesz in which he talks about the script originally being written by an English screenwriter. The script was very bad and Kertesz had to come to the rescue and rewrite it. Kertesz also talks about why he doesn't like Schindler's list and his problem with Steven Spielberg. Whether or not you agree with him you will find what he has to say most interesting.

This is not a Holocaust film that has an uplifting ending. There are no heroes. Rather than being optimistic about humanity the film has great doubts about humanity. Yes, this is a tough film but life is tough and I highly recommend that people see it. I've seen many films on the subject and this is indeed one of the best.