The Divided Heart

Moviecut—The Divided Heart

source: The Divided Heart

War is not over when it is over, and for the young Michel Ray, someone too young to remember the war, he's just as victimized as Cornel Borchers and Yvonne Mitchell were by the situation surrounding the situation in this outstanding British film. Borchers is the adoptive mother of Ray, upset to find out of the blue that Ray's natural mother (Mitchell) has turned up hoping to claim him. Both mothers (as well as the adoptive father, Armin Dahlen) are decent people, filled with love and the desire to have Ray as their son. Mitchell, speaking in her native language, indicates that when she arrived, she loved her baby and had to learn how to love her little boy who has agreed to spend time with her. The court of three judges (which includes Oscar winning actor Alexander Knox) have differing viewpoints so obviously young Ray will have to be influencial in helping to guide that decision, leaving one mother to end up being hurt. Recently I watched the film "Deep end of the Ocean" (1999) which dealt with a similar situation of a young boy kidnapped years before being discovered, and taken away from the only father he knew (not guilty of the kidnapping), and in comparing these two films see why this one works and the other one does not. There is no demand for the audience to sympathize with either woman, just a moral issue to be dealt with honestly and without the audience being pounded to support one over the other. In this film, either way, the ending of this is going to be a disturbing one because one woman will have to suffer while the other will have to live with guilt, something that that 1999 film seemed to lack. The performances are excellent, and the Bavarian mountain scenery is stunning. It's interesting to see the reactions of the children following Mitchell, angry at her for showing up to threaten to display Ray, pelting her with snowballs as she makes her way to meet him. If there ever was a film made that could lead to conversations regarding ethical decision making, it is this one, and of course, is parallel to the story told about King Solomon and the two women claiming to be the mother of one child.

The spoils and utter disruption war creates, especially in the lives of the innocent bystander are dramatically, and believably spotlighted in this sincere Ealing Studios study of two families. At the core of this well produced British drama is the decision that has to be made (and then lived with) by two women over the fate of an orphaned young boy. A lad adopted into a loving German family, who after seven years of parenting - is suddenly confronted by the claims of a Yugoslavian woman who lost her husband and two other children --that the boy may be her lad-- taken from her just after the child's birth. Beautiful Award winning performances, by Cornel Borchers and Yvonne Mitchell as the two women faced with the heat-breaking decision, are given strong support by Alexander Knox and Geoffrey Keen. These are captured on film by astute veteran Czech cinematographer Otto Heller ('Richard 111 '55) From an intelligent screenplay by respected writer's Jack Whitingham and Richard Hughes, based a true story, it's well realized by director Charles Crichton (Dead of Night '45). Child prodigy French Composer Georges Auric (The wages of Fear '55) supplies the rich score. Not to be missed by admirers of fine British drama. The Studio Canal DVD transfer has been taken from a clean original source with fine-grain image and OK sound.

This is a heart-rending story illustrating the overwhelming problem after the war of dislocated persons, in this case children. The film is almost documentary in character, going into the fates of two mothers claiming the same child, the real mother losing her boy because of the war, and a German childless mother adopting him after the war and bringing him up as a German. Which mother should have the child? Why not let the child decide himself, but here is the divided heart. He wants to stick with one and still not do without the other. Alexander Knox is the one among the three judges who advocates the child's right to decide his own future, while the arguments of the other two American judges are a little difficult to understand. Anyway, it's a fascinating story in its close adherence to reality, and Yvonne Mitchell as the Slovenian mother (speaking fluently Slovenian) makes a lasting impression. She is willing to give up her child for the child's own sake, while the German adoptive mother has nothing to argue with except her feelings. It's a very difficult case and dilemma, and it should maybe be taken for certain, that the boy, in the unique position of having two mothers, would do his best to keep them both.

It shows how superficial my expectations are of a black and white film that I only watched this because I was ill, and it was either this, a cooking show or "Take the High Road" (an awful Scottish Soap. What I found was a film full of believable characterisations that was not afraid to tackle a very difficult subject, where the true mother of a Yugoslavian boy raised by German foster parents during the Second World War returns to reclaim her child ten years later. What makes the subject matter so difficult is the way in which the boy comes to be made available for adoption through the attrocities of the war. The two flashbacks are very well done, making you care about both of the women and the love they feel for the child - the subdued Yugoslav mother, speaking through an interpreter, refusing to betray her emotions in public having been scarred by her experiences, (I thought the short scene where she is in the church looking at Mary and baby Jesus was very revealing) and the German woman who has raised the child during his formative years. The three judges from the American Control Commission are called upon to make the impossible decision, and the judgements that each of them decide, though different, ring true. I was surprised by the abruptness of the ending, wishing to see what Toni would do in later year, but that is my only criticism of this film.

I awarded this film 6/10 having seen it today 20/8/15 on "London Live" TV station who have been running a season of Ealing films from 2.00p.m on most weekdays.For a 69 year old this was the first time I saw this film which I found moving when a 10 year old Slovenian boy has to decide with whom he should live, either his natural mother or German adoptive parents.World War II caused many sad cases of orphans who had lost either or both their natural parents and a legal section of the U.S. War Commission as occupying country in West Germany had to make the decision whether to repatriate children once their natural parents had been found.This was decided in the film by a trio of international judges standing in for King Soloman. Yvonne Mitchell plays the Slovenian mother and I was impressed how she appeared to speak Slovanese and even Geoffrey Keen who played the administrator who mediates between the rival mothers.I assume a real Slovenian did the voice track with Yvonne lip-syncing to the spoken sound track.It would have been more realistic however if the German adoptive parents had spoken German in their scenes together.No spoiler from me about which of the mothers won the custody battle but the moral arguments from the three judges I found convincing.

I went to see this film when I was about 15 yrs old. It made a big impression on me because I was very idealistic then. The film was honestly and earnestly made, straight as a die, that was its charm. The fact is it only cost 1/- to get in the cinema to see it. In todays money that is about 5p. The film belongs in that era of course, the fifties. I have never fogotten the little boy in court trying to decide which parent he should choose to be with. He conveyed the correct personal inner torment of knowing he should choose his real mother, but being so used to his adoptive one.

Great story & acting especially knowing that situations like this would have happened at the end of WW2.

THE DIVIDED HEART is a touching and often very moving account of a 10-year-old boy who had been adopted as a 3-year-old child after World War II by a German couple (played by Cornell Borchers and Armin Dahlen.) The family lives in a Bavarian Alpine village where the boy, Toni, an intelligent and sensitive lad, goes to school, enjoys skiing, and could not be any happier. Toni's 10th birthday party is interrupted by a man and a woman from the International Refugee Organization. They bring the unsettling news that Toni was in fact Ivan Slavko, a Yugoslav, and his mother Sonja is alive and wants her son back. The question posed by the film is the obvious and painful one. Should the child be allowed to live with the adoptive parents who raised him and love him or with this "stranger" who is his mother in the flesh? It becomes the task of the postwar U.S. Court of the Allied High Commission for Germany to determine justice, a justice that must inevitably be accompanied by injustice to either real or adoptive parents. (SPOILERS FOLLOW). This is a film without villains, save war itself which separates children from parents. In the courtroom episode during which the custody of the child is determined, the judge acknowledges with humane wisdom the tragic aspects of the issue. The real mother is awarded the custody of the child. "It is time," says the court,"for the son to give love to a mother rather than receive it. By returning the boy to his real mother, we are giving the custody of the mother to the son rather than the son to the mother." The movie is sensitively directed by Charles Crichton and performed by a remarkable ensemble of performers, especially Cornell Borchers as the adoptive mother and Yvonne Mitchell as the real mother, but the film belongs to child actor Michel Ray who gives the role subtle nuances and comprehension not normally associated with child performers. One of the reasons he landed the role is that he could ski (as we see him do in opening sequences.) Later in life Michel Ray, As Michel de Carvalho, achieved some fame as a medal-winning Olympic skier and was immensely successful in the world of business.