White Bird 2023
2h 1m | Biography, Drama, Family, War | Release date: October 4, 2024 (United States)
Storyline:
In R. J. Palacio’s bestselling collection of stories Auggie and Me, which expands on characters in Wonder, readers were introduced to Julian’s grandmother, Grandmère. Here, Palacio makes her graphic novel debut with Grandmère’s heartrending story: how she, a young Jewish girl, was hidden by a family in a Nazi-occupied French village during World War II; how the boy she and her classmates once shunned became her savior and best friend.
Louis, enfant roi 1993
2h 40m | Biography, Drama, History | Release date: April 21, 1993 (France)
Storyline:
The title of this major French costume drama means “Louis, child-king”, and indeed it’s a fascinating fresco about the formative years of the young king Louis XIV, before he became the Sun-king at Versailles. It was a dark and violent period, when the Louvre (meaning ‘wolves hunt castle’, hunting was a major aristocratic pastime), then still the somewhat gloomy royal palace, was the battle field of palace intrigues while the regency was held by queen-mother Anne of Austria but the actual head of the royal government was the aging cardinal Giulio Mazirini (‘Mazarin’), the less-known Italian successor of Richelieu, who also introduced to the court and the kingdom a host of his countrymen from whom Louis would learn the passion for Italian culture, especially music which would flourish under the direction of Lully (but that later story is another movie, “Le Roi danse”). The elaborate script sketches the story of French power politics, too complicate and devious to summarize in any detail, but mainly from the viewpoint of the immature king under maternal guardianship, who probably didn’t comprehend half of the grave troubles focusing on the strife between the official Catholic church and those claiming freedom of religion, especially for the Huguenots, but in reality mainly driven by personal and family ambitions and the grip of nobles on the kingdom at the expense of the royal power, and climaxing in a full rebellion, known as the Fronde, which forces the royal family to flee for their lives, an experience that may have decided Louis to dedicate his reign to preventing a repeat by establishing absolutism as he did. Some narration is done by Louis’s younger brother Philip, the duke of Anjou, who seems smarter but as the spare heir is condemned to life in a golden cage, overshadowed by Louis while any ‘disrespect’ for his crowned sibling is punishable on the spot by strap lashes administered on his bare behind by a servant.
Birds Without A Nest 1996
Ptitsy bez gnyozd (original title)
1h 29m | Biography, Drama | Release date: 1996 (Belarus)
Storyline:
A film based on Belarusian poet Larisa Geniyush’s memoir. Despite living through the difficult times and being in emigration, she fought for freedom in her homeland and expressed devotion to the nation and it’s language.
Der Passfälscher 2022
1h 56m | Biography, Drama | Release date: October 13, 2022 (Germany)
Storyline:
21-year-old Cioma Schönhaus won’t let anyone take away his zest for life, especially not the Nazis. He wants to discover life, but has the misfortune of living as a Jewish person in Berlin in the 1940s. Since the best hiding spots are in plain sight, Cioma decides to go out into the light to escape deportation. Using the identity of a marine officer he created for himself, he throws himself into the city’s nightlife and even finds a fragile hope for love during the darkest moments of the war. Throughout the day he forges IDs with just a brush, some ink and a steady hand – and saves the lives of many others. His talent puts him in more and more danger, though, and at some point Cioma’s only hope to survive is a last forged ID – with his own name on it.
Bruno Reidal 2021
1h 41m | Biography, Crime, Drama | Release date: March 23, 2022 (France)
Storyline:
In 1905, French seminarian Bruno Reidel is found guilty of murdering a child. At the request of the doctors observing him, he writes his memoirs to explain his action.
I Was Nineteen 1968
Ich war neunzehn (original title)
1h 55m | Biography, Drama, War | Release date: September 12, 1968 (Hungary)
Storyline:
April 1945: 19-year-old Gregor Hecker reaches the outskirts of Berlin as part of the Red Army’s scouting team. Having fled Germany with his family when he was eight, he is confronted with the dilemma of having to fight men from his birth country. Through dealing with challenging situations (e.g. he is appointed commander of Bernau, talks to many disillusioned Germans, and keeps getting attacked by scattered groups of German soldiers), he grows more confident that not all hope is lost for post-war Germany. Based on the diary entries of director Konrad Wolf, the episodic movie authentically portrays the protagonist’s struggle to come to terms with his own past and identity.
