Train de vie - Un treno per vivere

There's quite a bit going on in "Train of Life" but it's worth following. The premise is that a shtetl (Jewish community) fears it will be deported to a World War II concentration camp. The village fool, Shlomo, comes up with the idea to purchase a locomotive, train some of the villagers to talk/act/dress like Nazis and head for Palestine in hopes they can fool the real Nazis.

Okay, the premise is far fetched. That's a given. But for this film, it works. The close-knit village buys into the plan and sets to work creating the ruse. Shlomo rises about his "village idiot" persona and finds new worth. The fake Nazi commander, Mordechai, begins to take his role a little too literally. There's a subplot about some of the young men converting to Communism. And a small band of resistance workers who try to blow up the train.

But the star of this film is not one person, it is the village. They've banded together to survive, which isn't lost amid the humor. There's true fear and hope. Some may feel the villagers are made fun of and lampooned, but there's a healthy respect for the Jewish customs and family closeness in this film. Watch the scene where the villagers prepare for the Sabbath during their journey and you'll see what I mean.

Too many films to count have focused on the reality of the Holocaust. There's no deny that it was a horrific event that should never be forgotten. This film does not desecrate or abandon that truth. It simply adds a new dimension worth exploring.

It's amazing how many people seem to be complaining about the unrealism of this film. Given that anyone with two brain cells to rub together can see that the film is not trying to be realistic from scene 1 onwards, the question is not whether the film tried to be realistic and failed, but whether a film about the Holocaust must try to be realistic to be any good.

The trouble is that unless as part of the performance the entire audience is deported in cattle-trucks, slowly starved, and then gassed, it is rather difficult to see how any film can be realistic about the Holocaust. So, if there are to be movies about the Holocaust at all, or if they are to do much beyond telling us that the Holocaust was ghastly (we knew that, didn't we?)

they have to give up on trying to be realistic, and try to look at the Holocaust in an indirect way. This is where I think "Train de Vie" succeeds, for example by the deliberate parallels between the society inside the train, and the society that helped caused the Holocaust. I could list them at length, but if you've seen the movie and didn't notice them, you won't be convinced by anything I say, and if you haven't seen the movie, I'd rather leave you the pleasure of discovering them for yourself.

I never actually thought of the film's relation to "Life is Beautiful" until reading the IMDB comments, after I'd seen both films. Well it's very hard to compare the two films, but I don't think "Train de Vie" needs to be ashamed of the comparison. True, Roberto Benigni does not star in it, and that is a heavy handicap for any film. On the other hand I think I like the exuberant un-reality of "Train de Vie" better. After all the portrayal of the Holocaust in "Life is Beautiful" is just as unrealistic as that of "Train de Vie"; the only difference is that "Train de Vie" revels from the first scene

to the last in its unreality. If we must be unreal, let us at least enjoy it.

This is a magnificent film. Like "Life Is Beautiful" it manages to be a comedy about the Holocaust but also a sensitive and thoughtful study of it. It's beautifully filmed, wonderfully acted, superbly directed. I can't think of a film I've seen this year that is more entertaining and more thought provoking. It's a comedy, it's a fantasy, it's a musical, it's a drama, it's a romance, it's an allegory and, yes, it's a tragedy. It's also wonderfully European with none of the predictable Hollywood cliches but with fascinating symbolism and revealing studies of human dynamics. But not the least artsey-dartsey. And how I'm tempted to give away the ending. But no! I wouldn't want anyone to miss that cinematic fist in the gut. Wow!!! The whole hour and a half is crystalized in a five second closeup. You won't be prepared for it! This is one of the few films I've ever given a ten!

I was disappointed recently as I read poor reviews of one of the best films I've ever seen. I saw this film twice at the Sundance Film Festival and was impressed and enjoyed the sensitive and comedic depiction of WW2 and populations facing war, however, you must stay to the very end, and let the final scene sink in to get the complete effect. This is not a heartwarming story of the holocaust, but a fantasy that thrusts the viewer back into reality and the horrors of the holocaust with a final shot that is one of the most heartwrenching and shocking scenes I've seen. Don't compare it with "Life is Beautiful"- many have done this and they are not similar. This film deserves better.

Rarely does one has the pleasure of watching a movie that combines

melancholy, drama, humor and insight into the human heart as this one does. A superb cast does honor to a powerful script. All of those who loved Roberto

Benigni's "Life is beautiful" will be pleased to know that this film treats the same general subject with at least as much humor and sensitivity, but with more depth. I was not familiar with either the director or any of the actors. I just hope we will see more from them, as I can't praise this work enough.