By Historical fiction has been a subgenre of filmmaking for generations, but it’s fascinating to consider how these journeys to the past are shaped by the present in which they are made. The war in Gaza and the rise of both Fascism and Anti-Semitism around the world have led to what feels like more stories set during World War II (look at the incredible success of “Nuremberg” last year) and we’re starting to see more stories about the attack on Israel and its response since 2023. Last year, TIFF faced backlash first for programming “The Road Between Us,” then for pulling it, and then for programming it again. (And then it won the People’s Choice Award.) At the same time, “The Voice of Hind Rajab” earned rapturous praise. It’s a complex time for stories about both the recent and distant past, and that’s the umbrella under which these three very different films reside.
At first, Jan Holoubek’s “Wild Wild East” feels like a classic noir, a blue-gray study of a world in decline, where no one is what they seem and no one can be trusted. It’s set in early 1943 in a Polish village called Zalesie Male. At this point in the war, Nazi powers were fading, leading to diminished resources and waves of distrust. It’s a perfect setting for a film that leans into both noir and Western trappings, the latter seen in the form of a mysterious man who might as well be the Man in Black riding into town in a John Ford movie.
The man is Martin Wolff (Itay Tiran), a Nazi who comes to this desolate village seeking gold. There have been rumors that a lawyer named Kowalski made off with Jewish gold and it’s somewhere in one of these nearly dilapidated buildings. As Martin asks around town about Kowalski, people are vague or downright dismissive, but he’s clearly rattling the right cages. It’s a vision of a ghost town being reminded of who they used to be by a human outsider, and it’s captivating filmmaking for about an hour.
Then Holoubek pulls the rug out, not only presenting a twist to the narrative but somewhat changing the very structure of the film, and not in a good, ambitious way. Being a bit vague, “Wild Wild East” becomes more straightforward in its final act, which works against the ambiguous purgatory in which it feels like most of the film is set. There’s still a decent amount to like here formally and even thematically regarding how conflict can leave these pockets of lost souls across the landscape, but it’s still disheartening to watch the film channel itself into more traditional plotting and even visuals. It should have stayed wild.
Perhaps it’s because of last year’s protests that the people behind Avi Nesher’s “Our Loves” kept its story vague in its synopsis on the TIFF site. Phrases like “the face of mayhem,” “the fortitude of the human spirit,” and “once catastrophe strikes” don’t reveal that this is a film about the massacres by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Discussions were likely had about how the subsequent horror in Gaza meant people would avoid (or worse) this drama, but it feels a bit misleading to not inform viewers that what they’re about to watch is a recreation of one of the worst days in Israel’s history.
Putting the politics of what would happen next aside while also placing some of the blame of the Hamas attack on Israel’s failed leadership through bits of dialogue (“Our shitty government told us Hamas was deterred. What a joke.”), “Our Loves” centers various people struggling with personal problems, first on October 6th. There’s the deeply religious young woman (Daniel Gimpel, the film’s most natural and engaging performer) who is dragged to the music fest that would be the scene of such bloodshed; a cop (Shalom Michaelshvili) who is going through a bitter divorce; a community relations officer (Magi Azarzar) who hides her same-sex relationship from her mother; and more. When Hamas crosses the border and begins taking hostages, “Our Loves” shifts from personal drama to a story of survival.
Sadly, so much of “Our Loves” lacks depth that any strong political or international reading of it doesn’t really make any impact because too much of it plays out like a clichéd TV movie. The framing, craft, and structure of the film lack nuance in every aspect other than a few nice character beats from famous Israeli actors. It feels like so many network television movies that were manufactured to drum up patriotism by recalling one of the worst days in the history of a country. It eschews character and craft in favor of processed unity. As we well know, unity is hard to find in that part of the world today, and it’s going to take more than a movie about surviving the unthinkable to provide it.
The final historical drama in this dispatch moves to a different part of the world, but it also tries to tell a story of human resilience against a backdrop of international terror. “The Violinist” reveals how the Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II tore a pair of violin prodigies apart, sending one off to the resistance while the other struggled to survive at home. It’s another tale of art and connection surviving the impossible, an animated film for adults more than children that features some of the most striking hand-drawn imagery of the year. Most notably, there are battle sequences here, especially a bombing in a harbor, that are breathtakingly conceived and executed. The actual heart of the story struggles a bit due to a clichéd structure and roughly 12 endings, but there’s still enough to like here, especially for fans of international animation.
It’s funny that a story about unlikely partners in art was made by one man making his directorial debut in Ervin Han and a legend in the animated form in co-director Raul Garcia, who worked on “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” and “Beauty and the Beast” as a senior animator at Disney. The pair collaborate to tell the story of Fei and Kai. We meet Fei in old age, when a Spanish reporter tracks down the reclusive violinist to show her a photo that he suspects is her due to the unique violin the child in it is holding. Who is the other child in the photo, Miss Fei?
The bulk of the film unfolds in flashback as Fei tells the story of her connection to an orphan boy named Kai, who may not have the training of Fei but has an innate gift for an instrument that people claim is the closest to replicating the human voice. When war destroys their future, Kai heads off to the Resistance, even aligning with the world-famous leader Lim Bo Seng. As both fight for survival, Fei tries to complete Kai’s unfinished symphony, a truly gorgeous piece of original music by Ricky Ho and Isabel Latorre that becomes essential to the fabric of the film.
“The Violinist” is too long and too repetitive, but there’s beauty throughout, and that keeps it from becoming too dull. There’s a version that’s tighter narratively—the entire interview structure could go—and even visually, but this is a film that’s best appreciated as a sort of animated symphony: Let its beautiful rises and falls sweep you away.
