my favourite scene
at the start, when the sleeping baby is woken by hitlers voice over the radio and starts crying.....just love it, sais alot i think. ;)..anyone else like this one
shareSPOILERS!!!
That was a good scene but I still like the end better where the newly reunited family is asked to pose for a photo. At first Antony Quinn's character is able to give a slight smile for the photographer but it gets harder and harder for him and he winds up in more of a grimace. To me, this scene was perhaps symbolic of the difference in how Americans saw WWII and how Europeans experienced it. The American photographer is cheerful and trying to get a happy ending photo while Quinn and his family huddle with each other, eight years of their lives gone and their world torn apart around them. The other scene in the film that really highlighted Quinn's acting was when he reads the notice that his wife has divorced him for being a Jew. His back is to the camera as he reads and you can watch his whole body change before he even turns around.
I'm with ya ... the scene with the reporter/photographer is incredibly symbolic in the ways you mention. More so it continues to drive the theme that Moritz still does not understand where he is ... and why his image is being used.
Remember this is a French film from a European perspective ... that perspective is that Americans do not understand how devastating WW2 was to millions of people. That Americans do not comprehend how WW2 turned peoples lives inside out with utter tragedy and violence.
The beauty of this film is that at least a few more Americans will consider the plight of Romanians when they think of WW2? I will!
And yes ... I laughed at the Hitler speech!