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Train of Life
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Wikipedia article
'Train of Life' (in French 'Train de vie'; in Romanian 'Trenul vieii') is a 1998 tragicomedy film by France, Belgium, Netherlands, Israel and Romania made in the French language. It tells the story of an eastern European Jewish village's plan to escape the Holocaust.
Plot
The film starts off with a man, named Schlomo (Lionel Abelanski), running crazily through a forest, with his voice playing in the background, saying that he has seen the horror of the Nazis in a nearby town, and he must tell the others. Once he gets into town, he informs the rabbi, and together they run through the town and once they have got enough people together, they hold a town meeting. At first, many of the men do not believe the horrors they are being told, and many criticize Schlomo, for he is the town lunatic, and who could possibly believe him? But the rabbi believes him, and then they try to tackle the problem of the coming terrors. Amidst the pondering and the arguing, Schlomo suggests that they build a train, so they can escape by deporting themselves. Some of their members pretend to be Nazis in order to ostensibly transport them to a concentration camp, when in reality, they are going to Palestine via Russia. Thus the Train of Life is born.
On their escape route through rural Eastern Europe, the train sees tensions between its inhabitants, close encounters with real Nazis as well as Communist partisans, and fraternization with the Roma, until the community arrives just at the frontlines between German and Soviet fire.
Its ends with the voice-over of Schlomo himself, who tells the stories of his companions after the arrival of the train in the Soviet Union: Some went on to Palestine, some stayed in the Soviet Union, and some even made it to America. As he is telling this, a cut to a close-up of his face happens as he says, "That is the true story of my shtetl...", but then the camera makes a quick zoom-out, revealing him grinning and wearing prisoner's clothes behind the barbed wire of a concentration camp, and he ends with, "Ye nu, 'almost' the true story!"
Cast
* Lionel Abelanski as Schlomo
* Rufus as Mordechai
* Clment Harari as the Rabbi
* Michel Muller as Yossi
* Agathe de la Fontaine as Esther
* Johan Leysen as Schmecht
* Bruno Abraham-Kremer as Yankele
* Marie-Jos Nat as Sura
* Gad Elmaleh as Manzatou
Background
In 1996, Roberto Benigni, writer-director of 'Train of Life's perceived competitor 'Life Is Beautiful', had been sent the script to 'Train of Life' and offered the role of village idiot Shlomo by writer-director Mihileanu, but Benigni turned it down and afterwards went to write and direct 'Life Is Beautiful'.King, Greg. [http://yourmovies.com.au/movie/4481/train-of-life/review 'Train of Life Reviews'], MovieFix Mihileanu refuses to publicly discuss whether Benigni has plagiarized his film, instead preferring to say that he and Benigni have made "two very different films".
Writer-director Mihileanu said that reporters came to ask him about Shlomo's ultimate fate which the film leaves open, whether he will perish during the war or if he will survive. Mihileanu said, "At first, I didn't know how to answer this one. But then I found the right answer: It's up to you in the audience! If you'll forget Shlomo, he'll die. But if you'll remember him, he'll live forever."'""Ein Journalist hat mich gefragt: berlebt Schlomo den Krieg, der ja im Film noch nicht zu Ende ist? Am Anfang hat er mich mit seiner Frage berrascht, doch dann habe ich die Antwort gefunden. Ich habe ihm gesagt: 'Das hngt nicht von mir ab, das hngt von Ihnen und vom Publikum ab. Wenn Sie Schlomo vergessen, stirbt er, wenn sie ihn nie vergessen, wird er nie sterben.""' [http://www.fau-duesseldorf.org/tip-s/filmtips/zug-des-lebens 'Zug des Lebens'] (2009 German review)
Critical reception
'Train of Life' holds a 64% 'Fresh' rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/train_of_life/ 'Train de Vie (Train of Life) (1998)'] on Rotten Tomatoes Assigning a more weighted average (based on 15 reviews), Metacritic assigns 'Train of Life' with a metascore of 62, indicating "Generally favorable reviews," with the following summary: "This haunting and powerful comedy is both the story of a village's dream and a suspenseful tale of great escape."[http://www.metacritic.com/movie/train-of-life 'Train of Life'] on Metacritic
Many reviewers at the time drew comparisons between 'Train of Life' and its contemporary competitor films 'Life Is Beautiful' and 'Jakob the Liar', because all three were released to North American theaters in 1999, but 'Train of Life' had been the first in production.Berardinelli, James (1999). [http://preview.reelviews.net/movies/t/train_life.html 'Train of Life (Train de Vie)'], ReelViews.com While 'Jakob the Liar' was near-universally panned, critics were divided upon which out of the other two worked better as a "Holocaust comedy".
While Desson Howe of the 'Washington Post' called 'Train of Life' a "less-than-scintillating spin on 'Life Is Beautiful'",Howe, Desson (1999). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/entertainment/movies/reviews/trainoflifehowe.htm 'Train of Life'], Washington Post, November 19, 1999 James Berardinelli of 'ReelViews' found the film's comedy "too 'French' in nature which is to say that it tends towards silliness and slapstick." Rob Blackwelder of SlicedWire (while not opposed to the idea of Holocaust tragicomedies in general) found each of the three films suffering from their distinct own flaws.Blackwelder, Rob. [http://splicedwire.com/99reviews/trainoflife.html 'Another derailed Holocaust comedy'], SPLICEDwire Jim Sullivan of the 'Boston Globe' (without mentioning 'Jakob the Liar') found that it "works much better"Sullivan, Jim (1999). [https://web.archive.org/web/20000120075518/http://ae.zip2.com/boston/scripts/staticpage.dll?only=y&spage=AE%2Fmovies%2Fmovies_details.htm&id=21372&ck=8074207&version=620632&ccity=Massachusetts&cstate=MA&adrVer=914595068&ver=e2.6 'On "Train," life's even more beautiful'], Boston Globe, November 11, 1999 (Wayback Machine snapshot, dated January 20, 2000) than 'Life Is Beautiful'. Jean Oppenheimer of the 'Dallas Observer' praised 'Train of Life' as being "far superior to either"[http://www.dallasobserver.com/2000-01-06/film/ha-ha-holocaust/ 'Ha-Ha-Holocaust'], Dallas Observer, January 6, 2000 of the other two, and Henry Cabot Beck of 'Film.com' went as far as comparing it to Spielberg's Academy Award-winning 1993 Holocaust drama, calling 'Train of Life' "every bit as reverent as 'Schindler's List' and no less successful" and contending about its two 1999 competitors that "neither film was as well directed or acted" as 'Train of Life'.[https://web.archive.org/web/20010627045540/http://www.film.com/film-review/1999/13158/9197/default-review.html 'Train of Life: A Reverent Fairy Tale'] (Wayback Machine snapshot dating June 27, 2001, all later snapshots give a 302 crawling error) Stefan Steinberg of the World Socialist Web Site claimed that 'Train of Life' is "a far better film" than 'Life Is Beautiful', being impressed by "the immense affection and care with which Mihaileanu has recreated the life and self deprecating humour of the Jewish villagers."
Several American reviewers saw a distinct similarity between Mihileanu's filmic yarn and the mood and humor found in the writings of Isaac Bashevis Singer or Sholem Aleichem.Karten, Harvey S. (1999). [https://www.imdb.com/reviews/208/20818.html 'Train de vie (1998)'], IMDB (originally posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup)Savlov, Marc (1999). [http://www.austinchronicle.com/calendar/film/1999-12-24/train-of-life/ 'Train of Life'], Austin Chronicle, December 24, 1999 Many reviewers made favorable comparisons to both Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 version or Mel Brooks's 1983 version of 'To Be Or Not To Be' (citing the same clever wit), positive and negative comparisons to Brooks's 1968 'The Producers' (calling it either better, worse, or "just as bad" as Brooks's farce), or negatively compared the oftentimes more buffoonish than scary Nazis in the film to the TV series 'Hogan's Heroes'.Bertrand, Merle (2000). [http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/184/ 'TRAIN DE VIE (TRAIN OF LIFE)'], Film Threat, March 16, 2000Holden, Stephen (1999). [https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E01E7D9123BF930A35752C1A96F958260&partner=Rotten%2520Tomatoes 'Train of Life (1998)'], New York Times, November 3, 1999Kaltenbach, Chris (1999). [http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-11-12/features/9911120330_1_agathe-de-la-radu-mihaileanu-schlomo 'Train of Life' never becomes 'Beautiful'], 'Baltimore Sun', November 12, 1999
Review quotes
Awards
Among other American and international awards, 'Train of Life' won both the 'FIPRESCI Prize for Best First Feature' and the 'Anicaflash Prize' at the 55th Venice International Film Festival, the 'World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic' at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, and the 'Best Foreign Language Film Award' at the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards 1999.References
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