![]() ![]() ![]() Starting in Zurich and then off to Paris and eventually London, the Kemper family are searching for safety and livelihood, but each stop presents its own challenges and hurdles for Anna and the family to overcome. Coming from a Jewish family, her father, renown theatre critic and outspoken socialist Arthur Kemper ( Oliver Masucci, 'Look Who's Back'), is high on the Nazi enemy list, so after receiving a tip from a friend, Arthur arranges for his wife and two children to flee the country. ![]() The film opens on the cusp of the 1933 German elections, and although Anna ( Riva Krymalowski) doesn't quite realise how or why her life is about to be irreversibly impacted. Link herself notes that Kerr's book had a profound and lasting impact on her as a child, and that subsequent respect and gravity from the story is clear for all to witness. Thankfully, Academy-nominated German director Caroline Link ('Beyond Silence', 'Nowhere in Africa'), took the reigns of this film, managing to elicit the very same emotions in her screen adaption. ![]() While some may say it is more an immigrant story than one of persecution, few can argue that Kerr's novel of refuge and survival is a charming, compassionate and poignant tale. It is a wonderful book, and perfectly positioned as an introduction to the horrors of the Holocaust. I remember reading Judith Kerr's semi-autobiographical novel 'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit' at the young, tender age of eight or nine - the same age as the protagonist, Anna. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |