Free land

The Holocaust viewed from the slightly different perspective of those who had relative luck and did not end up directly in the transport to the concentration camp. Their fate was constant hiding and escaping from the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo, and the local authorities. The story of the Free Land takes place in France, where they moved from occupied Paris to the Vichy part of the country, where the conditions were relatively more bearable, but still, the constant risk of denunciation by local fascists and collaborators persisted. France was soaked in anti-Semitism like a sponge after the rain. An old farmer and his daughter-in-law provide shelter to a Jewish family, who become a rare island of humanity in a crazy time. Although Free Land is not an exceptional film, and yet it does not manipulate emotions as we are accustomed to in Hollywood productions, and it provided me with several solid emotionally intense scenes. My overall impression is 70% and four stars. (10/11/2010)