Lena Dunham

Stephen Fry

Zbigniew Zamachowski

Iwona Bielska

Maria Mamona

Wenanty Nosul

Klara Bielawka

Magdalena Celówna-Janikowska

Tomasz Włosok

Sandra Drzymalska

Sławomira Łozińska

Robert Besta

Ralph Kaminski

Karolina Kominek

Magdalena Smalara

André Hennicke

Petra Zieser

Oliver Ewy

David Krzysteczko

Monika Obmalko

Dennis Papst

Victor Pape-Thies

Tomek Nowicki

Izabela Gwizdak

Adam Venhaus

Oliver Polak

John Quester

Julia von Heinz

Katharina Dufner

Lily Brett

Michael P. Cohen

David Wnendt

Sandie Bompar

Leo Davis

Lissy Holm

Carlos Gerstenhauer

Luise Hofmann

Pascal Villard

Johanna Wienert

Daniela Knapp

Patrick Locher

Martin Lieckfeld

Harald Steinwender

Michał Kiedrowicz

Fabian Gasmia

Leo Merkel

Marc Meusinger

Martin Langenbach

Stephan Rother

Lena Obara

Anna Pachnicka

Julia Terjung

Meike Götz

Łukasz Bąk

Clemens Endreß

Magdalena Szwarcbart

Marcin Pawlik

Annette Gentz

Glen Basner

Kent Sanderson

Ben Browning

Andrew Karpen

Adam Kasjaniuk

Mariusz Włodarski

Mary Komasa

Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz

Drama

Comedy

Treasure

Seven Elephants

Good Thing Going

Haïku Films

FilmNation Entertainment

Lava Films

Alamode Filmproduktion

Magic Media

Kings & Queens Filmproduktion

ARTE

Creative Europe Media

Haut et Court

France

Germany

United States of America

Poland

Hungary

Belgium

CinemaSerf

American journalist "Ruth" (Lena Dunham) had long planned a trip from the USA to her ancestral home in Poland only to find her effervescent father "Edek" (Stephen Fry) has decided to join her. A fluent speaker and full of a slightly annoying joie de vivre, they embark on a trip to the tourist sites, but that's not what she wants. She wants to head to the family home in Łódź where they were a successful industrial family before the Nazi's confiscated their wealth, property and sent "Edek" and his wife to Auschwitz. What is clear is that dad is not so keen on this itinerary, nor is he at all keen on train travel - and the remainder of the film takes us on a family journey that will open the eyes of the daughter whilst bringing back the demons for the father. This tries quite effectively at times to introduce some humour into what is quite an emotional topic, especially when their trip does eventually take them (and us) to his haunting place of incarceration where he finds a flood of memories readily come back to him. Fry over-eggs the accent a bit, but he does manage to convey something of the harrowing nature of his incarceration, and of his mind's determination to protect itself from opening that door to trauma again. Dunham also serves well enough as his independently-minded daughter to support that increasingly troubled characterisation. It's quite a poignant drama that encourages us, as D-Day 80 is still fresh in the mind - to imagine the horrors visited on the Polish people by the Nazis and to realise that in many cases (this is set in 1991) their houses and businesses were still pretty much as they were left in 1941 - only largely dilapidated and with new, poverty-stricken occupants. I did rather like the conclusion - it poses quite an interesting question about what we might do in her place. As a drama, it maybe doesn't need the cinema, but the photography at the now silenced death camp is still blood-curdling.

Treasure

Where to watch

Cast

Reviews