Fugitive Pieces

Fugitive Pieces_720p(480P)

source: Fugitive Pieces

Saw this on Netflix streaming. The critic Ebert has a good review of it. The story begins in 1942, as Nazis are rounding up Jews in Poland, and the little boy Jacob Beer is told to hide in a small place behind a seam in the wallpaper. He sees what happens, some of his family are killed, others including his 15-yr-old sister are taken away. Instead of staying put as he was told, he runs into the forest, until he can go no more and covers himself in leaves in a depression in the ground. A Greek geologist Rade Serbedzija as Athos is in a team dig and finds Jacob, takes him to safety, brings him to Greece, raises him as if he were his own son. Eventually they move to Canada where Jacob grows up, eventually turning to writing and teaching. This is a story of the human condition, in this case how the events of that day in 1942 shaped the life of Jacob. He could not forget, he could not help wondering what would have happened if he had stayed in the house as he was told. Was his sister Bella alive? If so would he ever find her? All this shaped how he saw the world, and how he reacted to others and potential relationships. The source book was written by a poet, so it is fitting that much of Jacob's writing depicted in the movie has a highly poetic sound. It is a very good movie, it moves rather deliberately but is always interesting. Stephen Dillane is the adult Jakob, I knew I had seen him before but could not place him, until IMDb reminded me he was Harry Vardon in "The Greatest Game", the story of how amateur Francis Ouimet won the US Amateur Golf championship in 1913. He was perfect as Vardon, and is perfect here as Jacob.

Somber, introspective journey into a painful past. Is this all there is?

As thoughtful than Schindler's List, without the drawn out dramatic elements...and was as insightful as The Pianist. A multiple rent/view - perhaps one to own. See this movie; you won't be "wow-explosioned" or overly "cleavaged" - it is realistic and subtly portrays a genuine appreciation for love and for living. We were a bit distracted by the failure of the first relationship - as there was little character development related to that first, in that it seemed on first viewing that there was merely a physical attraction and that the sudden ending of it was not anticipated. A second viewing made it clear in hindsight (or we simply had missed it...?) This is a wonderful film, especially for parents longing for something to discuss with adolescents - to explain the intricacies of hardship, of relative human values and the folly of prejudice.

Fugitive Pieces had a fair bit to live up to. There is a great deal of talent in the cast and the book is incredible, one of the best I've ever read actually. The film may lack the emotional punch and dramatic thrust that the book had but neither does it disgrace it. The book is a very difficult one to adapt(almost unfilmable actually) and the film did so laudably, any film or series that tries to adapt difficult to adapt should be applauded for trying even if they don't entirely succeed. The film does get too wordy at times, the narration is well written and sticks quite faithfully to the tone of the prose of the book but does over-explain too and takes one out of the film, this was a case of the film benefiting more by more show and less tell, as well as having a jumpy nature. The scenes where Jakob is an adult don't make the same impact of the scenes where he is a child, some of the scenes drag with the scenes between Jakob and Alex coming over as a little dull and flatly written(though well acted by Stephen Dillane and Rosamund Pike), and the narrative structure can be a bit jumpy and confused. And the alternate ending didn't work for me with that of the book being much more tonally fitting and powerful, the film's less downbeat one felt out of kilter and abrupt in how it deals with the characters' fates, almost like the writers weren't sure how to end it. Fugitive Pieces on the other hand is very well made, it's gorgeously shot and the scenery and such are evocatively done, especially in the scenes with Jakob as a child. The music score is suitably elegiac, the direction is appropriately nuanced and although uneven the script has some truly memorable lines and in keeping with the stoic and sombre if very poetic nature of the book. The story's also uneven but mostly effectively paced and while I said that the book had more emotional punch and dramatic thrust that doesn't mean that the film is devoid of those qualities, the war scenes with Jakob as a child are incredibly harrowing and poignant. The acting is very good from all involved with the most impressive being Robbie Kay in one of the best child performances personally ever seen- playing the role with so much heart- and Rade Serbedzija who is gruff but sincere. I appreciated the subtlety of Stephen Dillane's performance, Nina Dobrev is charming and Ayelet Zurer is compassionate and heartfelt. Rosamund Pike is more than just eye candy, she does bring life and spark despite the writing lacking lustre in her scenes with Dillane and the role being a little thankless and vastly improved over the somewhat shallow and unlikeable Alex in the book. Overall, uneven and doesn't completely succeed, but very well-made, well-acted and moving, worth seeing. 7/10 Bethany Cox

i hope that this insightful movie educates the world about the atrocities of the holocaust!!! unfortunately there are to many fools in the world who deny that such a thing even happened. this movie is just a glimpse of what hatred can do to our world its amazing to see a nation build themselves up again after so much wrong has been done to them, with their faith intact or even stronger than before! even though this movie does not show the evils of the holocaust in detail, it focuses on the aftermath and the psychological affect it has on generation to come in a subtle manner which proves to be somewhat more effective.

The timing for my watching this movie was unfortunate; I have recently seen three movies on related subject of the Holocaust, so I was not disposed in being entirely objective. That being said, this movie did offer an original take; it included a moving relation between a man saving a young Jewish boy from the well known fate of the rest of his family. The boy, Young Jakob, is played by Robbie Kay, who performs well, certainly thanks to the direction of Jeremy Podeswa (Boardwalk Empire) who also wrote the script from Anne Michael's novel; Kay portrays what it was to live in the haunting memory of the family he could not extinguish from his mind and in particular the memory of his 15 year old sister Bella, played by the beautiful and charming Nina Dobrev. The movie does not follow a formal timeline not even in its flashbacks and in the scenes when both young Jakob and older Jakob has visions of his sister; she had an indelible mark on Jakob. The story also goes back and forth intermittently showing how devoted, kind and understanding the boy's savior, Athos, was and how he helped shape his future. The actors do a splendid job, but I found it was a bit too melodramatic at times. Perhaps the introverted character of older Jakob, played by Stephen Dillane, was what made the melodrama a bit more than I cared to see. It does not take away from his performance; I just was not in the best mood for this. He became a writer, encouraged by Athos, and predictably, his writings dealt with subject relating to the loss and effects of the loss of his family in WWII. Rade Serbedzija, who plays Athos Roussos, Jakob's savior, performs his part very well, but it seems he always plays that very same character in so many of his movies; at least here I liked how he was, for all intent and purpose, a damn good father figure for Jakob. I won't forget the mature Jakob's love interests, Alex, played by the talented and delicious Rosamund Pike, who's zest for life was too much for the melancholic Jakob; thankfully he later is introduced to the gorgeous Michaela, played by Ayelet Zurer, a kindred spirit who unleashes in Jakob the desire for love and life in ways the viewer was likely to believe he was incapable of finding. The ending was unexpectedly a happy one, well not the sad one we could have expected before Michaela's introduction; it was the redeeming factor, which makes me okay with recommending it, providing the storyline is one that does not turn you off. p.s. The scenery of the Greek Islands where a good part of the story takes place will make you wish you lived there.

This film has rare qualities. It is pensive, intelligent and looks for truths, not flash. It has depth rarely seen in english films. Mid-film though, I was wondering if it is going somewhere. Then I saw, it is not going it's coming toward us. The story of a boy survivor arriving to normalcy, finally, with what he has, his loving ghosts.

Wonderful film not be missed. All the characters are very well developed, and portrayed with sensitivity. People with a troubled past will identify with the protagonists soul searching journey, especially if you have been affected by the holocaust. The musical score just serves to tighten that chocking feeling as the viewer attempts to suppress tears. The cinematography is masterful in capturing some of the most beautiful sea side scenes available in Mediterranean Europe (Greece). The writer protagonist (Stephen Dillane) is well experienced playing introspective roles, as he also played the husband of Virginia Wolf (Nicole Kidman) in "The Hours."