Lea and Darija

I have just seen Lea and Darjia at the opening of the 58th Pula Film Festival. As a person who grew up in Israel I have seen numerous movies that deal with various aspects of the Jews in Europe before and during WW-II. This movie, unlike others, does not awake any defense mechanism by showing horrifying scenes from concentration camps and in this lies its power. The mixture of the strong message with music and children leaves the viewer "unprotected" till the last moment only to remain with a very strong feeling at the end of the movie. A strong feature of the movie is the parallel development and maturation of both children and adults. This often awakes in the viewer feeling of parental pride and honest surprise. I found the performance of the actors excellent and very convincing. The movie was interesting from the beginning to the end without unnecessary scenes that may have prolonged it too much. To summarize, this movie brigs honor to the touching story it tells. I therefore highly recommend it to anyone regardless of their interest and knowledge in history of the Jews in Europe.