> Fugitive Pieces
Director: Jeremy Podeswa
Cast: Stephen Dillane, Rade Serbedzija, Robbie Kay, Rosamund Pike, Ayelet Zurer, Ed Stoppard, Nina Dobrev
Rating: (M)
3 stars (out of 5)
By Christine Powley
Survivor's guilt is a well-recognised syndrome but it is not a particularly enthralling topic to base a movie on. Fugitive Pieces (Rialto) is the story of Jakob Beer (Stephen Dillane as the adult and Robbie Kay as the child) who was hidden by his family when the soldiers came.
It is 1942 Poland and Jakob is about 7. He watches his parents get shot and his sister dragged off to an unknown fate. He runs away and hides in the forest.
By rights he should die there but a group of archaeologists are working on a site and a kindly Greek, Athos (Rade Serbedzija) spots Jakob covered in leaves. He takes him in but it is dangerous to hide a Jewish child in Poland so he returns to Greece, smuggling Jakob with him.
Greece is also occupied but Athos' house on the Greek island Zakynthos is high in the hills and as long as Jakob stays indoors he is relatively safe.
When the war ends Athos and Jakob move to Canada to live in comfort and affluence.
Considering the fate of so many others, Jakob has had an easy time of it, and he knows it. It is this knowledge that traps him. Unable to enjoy his good fortune in living he is obsessed with the sufferings others endured.
The film is based on an acclaimed novel by Anne Michaels but it never really comes off.
It has moments of visual beauty, especially in Greece, but watching Jakob mope is just frustrating.
Best thing: Zakynthos looks ravishing.
Worst thing: In the end I did respond but I felt manipulated into it because ultimately you are always going to get emotional over survivors' tales.
See it with: Tissues. Even the most flint-hearted will need them.
