“Paradise” (2016)
*****
A riveting story about a young Russian aristocrat, Olga (Yuliya Vysotskaya), is sent away to a concentration camp where she faces unspeakable circumstances. She has joined the French Resistance to save as many Jews as she can from extermination only to be captured and interrogated for the “crime” of hiding Jewish children.
Olga meets a handsome man, Khelmut (Christian Clauss), at an outing in the 1930s.They would meet again only this time the man is an upcoming German SS officer who is even invited to Heinrich Himmer”'s (Viktor Sukhorukov) suite. Khelmut and Olga rekindle their love from the earlier time. To her surprise, he offers her an escape route at the time the Nazis are beginning to realize defeat may be near. However, what seems to be a window of escape becomes more communicated. (Lushly filmed in black and white.)
Cast: Yuliya Vysotskaya (Olga), Plilippe Duquesne (Zhyul), Christian Clauss (Khelmut), Jean Deni Romer (Shulman), Jakob Diehl (Fogel), George Lenz, Irinda Demidkina (Okhrannitsa Tyurmy), Caroline Pietta Zhyustina), Anna- Mariya Danilenko (Babish), Vera Voronkova (Roza),Yaroslav Khimchenko, Anastasiya Serova. Running time:130minutes.Languages: German, Hungarian, French, Yiddish with English subtitles. Cinematographer: Aleksandr Simonov.
