Fugitive Pieces
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Quietly reflective and affecting story about a small Jewish boy (Robbie Kay) in Poland, separated from his family during the Holocaust, who is adopted by a gentle Greek archaeologist (Rade Sherbedgia), and how the events of those years mold his adulthood as a writer in Canada (where he's played by Stephen Dillane) and his relationships (with Rosamund Pike and Ayelet Zurer). Directed with a measured pace by Jeremy Podeswa, who also wrote the adaptation of Anne Michaels' 1996 novel, the film is especially touching in the tender scenes with Sherbedgia and young Kay who morphs seamlessly into the excellent Dillane, who beautifully conveys how his character comes to terms with the ghosts and guilt of the past. Some nonmarital sexuality with partial and rear nudity, a shooting death, and other brief nongraphic violence, a suicide reference and a couple of mild expletives.
A-III -- adults. (R) 2008
The traumatic effects of the Holocaust are dramatized in low-key but affecting fashion in "Fugitive Pieces" (Samuel Goldwyn).
This quietly reflective story concerns a 9-year-old Jewish boy, Jakob (Robbie Kay), in Poland, separated from his family during the occupation. While he is hidden away in a cupboard, the Nazis burst in, presumably kill his parents and take away his beloved sister, Bella (Nina Dobrev), to a fate we never learn.
He's found cowering in the woods by Athos Roussos (Rade Sherbedgia), a gentle Greek archaeologist who smuggles the boy back to his sun-drenched island in Nazi-occupied Greece, slowly winning the boy's confidence and trust. Eventually, they emigrate to Canada when Athos secures a teaching position.
The film shuttles back and forth in time, sometimes a bit confusingly, and shows how the events of Jakob's traumatic early years mold his adulthood as a writer (where he's played most excellently by Stephen Dillane) and his relationships: the two sympathetic women in his life, Alex (Rosamund Pike), with whom he feels little connection, and later Michaela (Ayelet Zurer), with whom he does, and Ben (Ed Stoppard), the son of his Holocaust survivor neighbors, who looks up to him.
Directed with a measured -- albeit occasionally sluggish -- pace by Jeremy Podeswa, who also wrote the adaptation of Anne Michaels' 1996 best-selling novel, the film is especially touching in the tender scenes with Sherbedgia and young Kay who morphs convincingly into Dillane. The latter beautifully conveys how his character eventually comes to terms with the ghosts and guilt of the past.
The film contains some nonmarital sexuality with partial and rear nudity, a shooting death, and other brief nongraphic violence, a suicide reference and a couple of mild expletives. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.