L ifestyles /C ulture
New WWII Film Reveals Hidden Lives of Jews in Berlin
F IL M
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
THERE ARE HUNDREDS of
movies about the Holocaust,
which has been examined in
most of the major movie-pro-
ducing countries in the world
from every angle: survivor
documentaries, camp hor-
rors, conflicted guard studies,
partisan-struggle war movies,
B-movie sexploitations, qua-
si-comedies, escape capers,
survivors in the immediate
aftermath, Righteous Gentiles
and so on.

So it was a pleasure that
Claus Räfle’s documentary The
Invisibles looks at the subject
from an unexplored viewpoint.

A mix of reenactment, sur-
vivor interviews and archival
footage, The Invisibles tells the
true stories of four Jews who
hid in plain sight in Berlin
in the last days of the war.

Their paths intersect here and
there, but for the most part,
they are unaware of the exis-
tence of the others. It is a movie
about teenagers forced to act
as adults under the direst cir-
cumstances, as their parents
are deported and they’re left to
fashion lives for themselves in
the seat of Nazi power.

The reenactments are ser-
viceable, if unspectacular. Each
of the four survivors portrayed
— Cioama Schonhaus, Eugen
Friede, Ruth Gumpel and
Hanni Levy — are made to
look like Burberry models in
the reenactments and mostly
smolder at the camera.

It’s also about loss. This may
seem obvious, but the manner
in which the hits keep com-
ing — Euegen Friede can no
longer sit on the bus, Cioama
Schonhaus loses his parents
in the opening scene of the
movie, Ruth Gumpel lives
on the street — really drive
home the emotional cruelty of
Nazism, which beggared the
soul right along with the body.

This is especially apparent
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM story. Schonhaus out the sound of the survivor
survives by forg- speaking. What better way to
ing passports emphasize the still-aliveness of
and other doc- these stories for them? And
umentation at Alice Dwyer, who plays Hanni
the direction of a Levy, really does seem to carry
sympathetic gov- the emotional weight of forced
ernment official, assimilation that the story calls
a relationship that for. Lastly, the survivor inter-
goes largely unex- views are strangely, pleasantly
plored. Ruth and a light-hearted at times — we
friend are hidden know, on some level, how each
by a Nazi official of their stories end — which is
and his wife, who an interesting tone to strike in
keep them in their a film about the Holocaust.

Which is to say: This is a
employ as maids
and nannies. This period of history so vast,
startling fact is fraught and overflowing with
Alice Dwyer as Hanni Levy in The Invisibles
Photo courtesy of Landmark Theatres simply stated, and stories, there are more movies
then we’re off to to be made about it.

The Invisibles opens at
the next scene.

in the story of Levy. Levy
That overreliance, aside
The movie is not without its Landmark’s Ritz at the Bourse
changes her name to Hannelore from being tiresome, comes merits. Räfle blends the sound Cinema on March 15. l
Winkler, and dyes her dark at the expense at what could of bombs falling in Berlin and
brown hair an Aryan blonde, have been more interest- moving trains with the inter- jbernstein@jewishexponent.com;
drawing attention from ing questions begged by the view footage, nearly drowning 215-832-0740
German men on the street.

She is free to walk the bou-
NAME: GRATZ COLLEGE*;
WIDTH: Scholar
5.5 IN; DEPTH:
5.5 IN; I gratz
COLOR: college
BLACK levards as she pleases because
Shusterman Distinguished
Lecture of her efforts to remove any
PLUS ONE; AD NUMBER: 00083747
Jewish trace of herself, just as
the other three subjects are
able to do. Viewers will feel
a little swell of pride watch-
ing each subject go about
their day even as Berlin is
declared “Judenfrei.” But you
also wonder what their sense
of being Jewish will be after
the Holocaust; if self-pres-
ervation means erasing reli-
gion and identity, is there
Colors for website (screen)
any way back?
purposes: Rabbi Abraham Skorka, Ph.D.

Räfle relies too heavily on
Blue: pms 662
has had a deep friendship with
Aqua in logo gradient:
certain visual motifs. I lost
pms 7473 Pope Francis for many years
count of how many times a
Aqua in that
tagline: pms 569 interfaith under-
epitomizes small group of Jews in hiding
are either huddled around a
Typefaces: standing. He will discuss why
table or in carefree conversa-
“gratz”: interfaith
frutiger 75 dialogue
black is vital for
“college”: frutiger 45 light
tion, only for each of them to
Jews and other religious com-
LEARN. TEACH. LEAD:
whip their heads around at the
today and what we can
frutiger munities
66 bold italic
sound of a knock on the door,
do to
foster greater interfaith
as the non-Jew in the room
understanding in the world.

motions for them to hide. If
the director wished to make
it known that Jews living in
For information and pre-registration: Mindy Cohen
Berlin during the Holocaust
mcohen@gratz.edu or 215-635-7300 x155
had to be on constant alert for
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
the Gestapo, he succeeds in
this endeavor many times over.

The Pope’s Rabbi
Wednesday, March 27, 7:30 p.m.

Interfaith Dialogue: The Way Forward
JEWISH EXPONENT
MARCH 14, 2019
21