Spring 1941 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Spring 1941 Blu-ray Movie Review

An intriguing story of twisted romance set against the backdrop of the Holocaust.

Reviewed by Dustin Somner June 10, 2010

Over the years, we’ve witnessed countless productions centered on the Holocaust, which remains one of the darkest periods in modern civilization. From films such as The Pianist or Schindler’s List, a new generation of viewers have been exposed to the tragedies that accompanied misdirected hatred, and shown the courage of the individuals that endured such hardship. Spring 1941, is a 2008 film directed by Isreali Uri Barbash, and filmed within Poland. Though the film incorporates depictions of the unthinkable acts that took place during the Holocaust, it presents a story that uses the Nazi occupation in Poland as a backdrop, but focuses greater effort on the opportunity for precarious relationships to develop between Jews and their sympathetic supporters.

Just between you and me, the little girl pictured here is one of the worst child actors I've ever seen.

With the expanding Nazi presence in Poland becoming a growing concern for Jewish families, Dr. Artur Planck (Joseph Fiennes) approaches a local farmer named Emilia (Kelly Harrison), requesting safe harbor for him and his Jewish family. She agrees to let the family of four reside in the attic of her small farmhouse if the need arises, knowing life on the farm has become difficult since her husband was killed in the war. The time to flee arrives quicker than Artur originally thought, as public executions become commonplace around their upscale townhouse, forcing Artur to usher his wife and their two daughters to Emilia’s countryside estate. Unfortunately, their escape quickly ends in tragedy, as Artur and his wife Clara (Neve McIntosh) witness the death of their youngest daughter at the hands of Nazi riflemen. The remaining family members continue unscathed to Emilia’s residence, but the grief-stricken Clara is barely able to function under the weight of her recent loss. Dealing with the loss in his own way, Artur focuses his energy on helping Emilia with the farm (since he looks less “Jewish” than his wife, Emilia finds it reasonable to let him pitch in around the farm) in exchange for the hospitality she’s shown to his family. The complicated byproduct of his indentured labor is a blossoming relationship between Emilia and Artur, which doesn’t go unnoticed by his watchful wife. This soon drives a rift between Emilia and Clara, as Artur must choose between the safety of his family, or the betrayal of his beloved wife.

Spring 1941 is a surprisingly compelling film, since it avoids the usual trappings of a Holocaust story. We’ve witnessed a number of stories over the years that shed light on non-Jewish sympathizers who put their lives on the line to protect the oppressed, but I can’t recall a prior film that depicts the helpless position of those in hiding, when faced with the ulterior motives of the individual they rely on. What makes the story so powerful isn’t the World War II setting -- it’s the manner in which three people deal with their own needs (both physical and emotional), and struggle to define a constantly shifting line between right and wrong. As the viewer, we can understand Clara’s grief over the loss of her daughter, which initially creates space between herself and Artur. This allows Emilia to gradually enter the picture as a physical interest to Artur, who initially has no idea of her long-time interest in him. Matters quickly escalate when they take their relationship to a physical level, leaving Clara exiled from her own husband. This uncomfortable triangle of deceit and passion becomes increasingly hostile in the months that follow, as they weather a life-threatening raid by a Nazi patrol, and a jealous attack from Emilia’s brother-in-law (who suspects she’s sleeping with Artur). These encounters lead to additional demands and ultimatums from Emilia, who eventually makes Clara a prisoner of the attic, testing the familial bond between Artur and his wife.

Another excellent addition to the structure of the story is the inclusion of a subsequent modern-day storyline showing Clara revisiting the town of her youth for the first time since the Holocaust. Although she survived with her life, it’s clear the events of her youth have weighed heavily on her heart over the years, and left her an emotionally bankrupt woman. During the course of the main storyline (told in flashback), Clara undergoes one hardship after another, leaving scarred memories of a life that originally seemed so promising, yet quickly turned into an escalating nightmare. In the present day, she slowly remembers those events that took place ( as she progresses through her pilgrimage), which conclude with a bitter-sweet farewell to the people who touched her life in some fashion.

Although there’s a great deal to like about Spring 1941, I noticed several minor quibbles that detracted from the overall experience. The first complaint worth mentioning is a weak scene around the midpoint of the film depicting a Nazi patrol brutally beating Emilia and Artur. I’m not suggesting violence needs to be gratuitous in order to get a point across, but when you have a soldier half-heartedly swinging the butt of his gun at a victim, while another lands a fake kick that wouldn’t pass inspection in the WWE, we have a problem. What should have remained a meaningful moment in the film quickly became a laughable example of subpar physical acting. My second complaint had to do with the obvious nature of Artur and Emilia’s romance, and the surprising lack of stealth in keeping it from Clara. Even if you discount the two of them emerging dishelved and half dressed from the barn next to Clara’s attic, you still have multiple scenes where they talk at full volume about their relationship, while Clara sits immediately above them. It’d be one thing if they whispered quietly while Clara had her ear against the door, but it seemed a bit irrational to think she’d have such a difficult time hearing every word through the cracks in uneven floorboards. Lastly, I found it strange that everyone subscribed to the idea of Artur working in the fields next to the main road, considering he was a well-known doctor within the city. One would assume anyone who came to visit Emilia or happened to pass on the adjacent road would recognize him as their doctor (likely the most public figure in a small town setting), and wonder why he’s out plowing the fields for a widow. This does play into the film to a certain extent, but it’s approached in an extremely self-serving manner, and then discarded as a mere afterthought.

Spring 1941 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 28Mbps), Spring 1941 provides an overly problematic visual affair that becomes a bit distracting at times. Within the opening moments of the film, I felt confident this would rank as an average-strength transfer, offering decent fine object detail and reasonable image depth. However, following several scene transitions, it soon became painfully clear I'd be in for wild swings in clarity, covering at least half of the production in varying levels of haze. The color spectrum of the film is also somewhat underwhelming, incorporating artificial sepia tones in the vintage footage that rob most hues of their natural beauty. I understand this is merely a reflection of choices in the cinematography, but it still gives the film a somewhat cheap appearance. On the positive side, black level depth and contrast rank in the above average territory during scenes with adequate lighting, though there's a disappointing tendency for some sequences to display horrible aliasing and weak shade transitions in the moonlight (take a look at the scene in the attic around the 23 minute mark for a good example). Add in a noisy layer of grain from time to time, and we end up with a resulting image that rarely appears pretty, but still bests a standard definition offering.

Spring 1941 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I always find it a bit absurd when a release contains a lossless 2.0 mix with a lossy surround mix (why not dispense with the two separate tracks and simply give us a lossless surround option), but that's exactly what we have here. Switching back and forth between both options, I struggled to find much of a difference, though the increased volume and superior clarity of the lossless option barely edged out the other version. This is likely due to the separation of audio elements between the two front mains (lossless), while the dialog-heavy nature of the production left little surround activity on the 5.1 option, focusing most of the track solely on the center channel. Regardless of the ho-hum reaction I felt toward the two compromised offerings, this is clearly a drama film with little action to speak of (aside from several gunshots). As such, we don't really require an immersive audio experience along the lines of Transformers, since it doesn't take a sledgehammer to get the point across.

Of note, there are no subtitles included on the disc.

Spring 1941 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements included on the disc.

Spring 1941 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I have zero reservations in recommending Spring 1941 as a worthwhile rental for anyone interested in period dramas about love and treachery. Setting the story in a World War II timeline adds an extra layer of emotional weight to the end product, but isn't much more than a foundation on which the main story is built. For that reason, I'd consider this a Holocaust film in a superficial sense, but stop short of lumping it into the same category as a moving depiction such as Schindler's List. This shouldn't be seen as a failing in any manner, since the story at the heart of the film is still quite good, but I'm simply warning those looking for a Holocaust film to be prepared for a different sort of drama.