Stars: Dan Cheatham and Connor Long
This film was an official selection at the Filmstock Arizona 2013 round of the revolving Filmstock film festival. Here's an index to my reviews of all selections. |
This film was an official selection at the Phoenix Film Festival in Phoenix in 2013. Here's an index to my reviews of 2013 films. |
Hauptmann Himmelbauer is an interesting lead character, not only because of who he is but because of what he does. He looks like the usual Nazi villain with a severe face and sour expression but he cares for his men and for Radek, who he tolerates patiently. The boy is just as interesting a character in support because he's as important to the story and its message as the captain and he's played very capably by an actor who really does have Down Syndrome, Connor Long. He and Dan Cheatham, as Himmelbauer, work well together and prove a surprisingly successful pair to carry the film, given that neither of them has a previous acting credit. Sarah Lotfi, who directed from a script she wrote with Dustin Dunaway and Randy Rodriguez, refuses to do things by the book, highlighting her approach with her title. In German, Menschen means 'people' or, as the poster tellingly translates it, 'human beings'. These characters are examples of those the Nazis destroyed as subhuman and those the Russians murdered after the war.
Lotfi successfully expands this concept by showing every character in her war movie in shades of grey. The SS are perhaps the only truly black characters and there are no white ones. Most notably, the key American soldiers we see are flawed, whether a triggerhappy rookie or a quick to judge officer. In each scene, there's another reminder that we're not watching the good guys vs the bad guys, we're given a war between human beings and menschen, each with their flaws. It's impressive how Lotfi manages to avoid preaching to us, all the while highlighting that many of us would have brought bad assumptions along with us. She clearly aimed at giving us a war movie with leads who flouted our expectations and supporting actors who did no less. That she did as much as she did in a short film that runs just under half an hour is impressive; it would be fascinating to see what she could do at feature length. Her cast and crew are more than up to the task and clearly so is she.
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