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SYNOPSIS:
THE LAST TRAIN accompanies a small group of Jews from the point of being arrested to their unforeseeable end in a concentration camp. In the last days of the Second World War they were penned up in the cattle cars of a "special train" and carried off to Auschwitz like thousands of Jewish people. In the course of this agonising journey more than half of them die of thirst. The episodes from some of the families' previous lives were shown in flashbacks are in stark contrast to what they are enduring. Yet the doomed occupants' will to live in spite of their claustrophobic and shattering situation in the cattle car is central. But will it be strong enough for anyone to survive this hell on rails?
MOVIE
REVIEW
In these troubled times, we are getting a slew of rather gloomy shows to review. While feel good shows provide escapism for the escapist in us, movies like this one give us a glimpse into the human nature when people are forced into circumstances. And like the recent Valkyrie and The Boys in the Striped Pajamas, here comes another movie that chronicles the sad lives of those who suffered the days of World War II.
The 123 minute (that’s just enough for a genre like this) German movie tells the story of the journey taken by a Jewish woman as she and other Berlin Jews are taken and sent to the death camps during Holocaust Germany. The picture takes place mostly on a train’s cattle cars, and these although we know that these prisoners’ lives are doomed, we get a glimpse of their happier days through flashbacks, and this makes the journey even more depressing.
The first thing that strikes you is the movie’s high production values. You can see that the filmmakers did not scrimp and save when it came to budget for sets and camerawork. The result is a very authentic movie which transports viewers back to the World War II days when gloom and murk was present in every corner. The claustrophobic and tight spaces in the cattle cars are effectively translated on screen, illustrating the suffering these prisoners went through.
Being a foreign film, the authenticity is further enhanced with the cast’s excellent grasp of the German language. The frustration and angst is affectingly translated into their expressive dialogue. It helps that we are not familiar with these actors. Gedeon Burkhard, Lale Yavas, Sibel Kekili and Roman Roth – do any of these names ring a bell to you at all? Unfamiliarity aside, their convincing performances are another winning element of this finely produced film.
The movie also grabs you because you seem to be traveling with these prisoners on the journey to death. The heartrending thing is that, you know the fate of these Jews at the end of the day, and as the film progresses, you are introduced to their pasts, seeing more glorious days which will eventually conclude in doom and death. The stark contrast of bright and dark visuals, as well as the cheery and somber music is very effective in showing the contrast too. If you are already feeling down and out, we’d suggest you put this one on hold, until you are prepared to face the devastating story.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains no extra features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The disc’s visual transfer is very sharp, and the movie is presented in German Dolby Digital 2.0.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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