This historical drama is an adaptation of a novel by Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertesz, who as a youth spent time in various concentration camps run by the Nazis. This book is the semi-autobiographical exposition of his experiences, which clearly left the writer ambivalent about his own heritage, religion and family.
The story centers on a 14-year-old Jewish boy living in Budapest, but who quickly becomes a casualty of Hitler's Final Solution policy. After his father is sent away to a labor camp, the young man is able to get a job and the documentation that allows him to cross city borders. That doesn't last, however, as he and a number of Jews living in the area are rounded up and sent off on a journey. What is really remarkable about the novel is the fact that we really experience the voyage with the young man - he is consistently unaware of what is impending, and seeing the events unfold through such a wide-eyed retelling is devastating.
After landing initially in Auschwitz, the lad is eventually shuffled around to a couple of different locations. Although there is some good news to be had - Auschwitz is known primarily as a death camp - the horrible conditions the Jews are subjected to leaves our hero numb. Ultimately, he becomes quite ill and is hospitalized, during which time the war is ended and the camp prisoners are released. When he arrives home, though, our protagonist must contend with strange treatment from Christian neighbors as well as the need for his own Jewish family members to find some sort of reason why the concentration camps could have happened. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
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