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WAITING FOR ANYA
Director: Ben Cookson Cast: Noah Schnapp, Thomas Kretschmann, Jean Reno, Anjelica Huston, Frederick Schmidt, Elsa Zylberstein, Gilles Marini, Declan Cole, Joséphine de La Baume, Sadie Frost, Tómas Lemarquis MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:49 Release Date: 2/7/20 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 6, 2020 Above all else, Waiting for Anya is earnest. It tells the story of a young boy, living in a small French village during World War II, who helps a man in his mission to bring Jewish children across the Pyrenees to safety. The movie, written by director Ben Cookson and Toby Torlesse (based on Michael Morpurgo's novel), delves no deeper than that. It doesn't necessarily need to (The book was aimed at children, after all), but the end result feels as if it's merely scratching the surface of its story, its characters, and its lesson. Jo (Noah Schnapp) comes from a family of shepherds. After running away from the herd when a bear appears from the woods, the boy returns the forest, looking for his dog. He also finds Benjamin (Frederick Schmidt), a Jewish man who rescues his daughter from a train bound for a concentration camp in the movie's prologue. He has come to the village to hide on the farm of his mother-in-law Horcada (Anjelica Huston). There, he waits for his daughter, while bringing other children to Spain. Shortly after, though, the Nazis arrive, and Benjamin is stuck on the farm with hungry and sick children. Jo picks up food for them, while also going to school, continuing his work, and dealing with the return of his father (played by Gilles Marini), who had been a prisoner of war and begins drinking to excess. Like the rest of the town, the boy also finds himself becoming comfortable with the occupying German soldiers, especially a friendly corporal (played by Thomas Kretschmann). That corporal, who faces something of an existential crisis as he wrestles with the reality that he's the villain, is the most fascinating and complex character in this story, although that isn't saying much. The plot—as Jo, Horcada, Benjamin, and, later, the boy's grandfather (played by Jean Reno) care for and hide the children as the Nazis intensify their searches—is the most important element in the filmmakers' minds. It's told with straightforward simplicity (An older Jo even narrates the lessons the character learns along the way), along with some striking panoramas of the locale. Waiting for Anya leaves one torn. Considering the intent, the simplistic narrative might be enough, but considering the underlying severity of that story, there's perhaps too much left unspoken and unexplored. Copyright © 2020 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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