A Laugh in the Darkness

“A Laugh in the Darkness”

A Review of Bau, Artist at Wat by Nick Olszyk

 

Distribution Service: Theatrical

MPAA Rating, PG-13

OSV Rating, Not rated at the time of this review

Reel Rating, Four out of Five Reels                   

            Eighty years after the liberation of the Nazi death camps, there are now hundreds of films that have in some way documented the Holocaust, so many it can become easy to dismiss even a good one. Bau, Artist at War tells the true story of Joseph Bau, a graphic designer and cartoonist who survived the Shoah and became an early pioneer of Israeli animation. Through excellent writing and powerful performances director Sean McNamara creates a film that, even amongst other compelling stories, manages to stand out and show God can create light in even the darkest circumstances.

            Joseph Bau (Emile Hirsch) is rebellious teenager living in the Warsaw ghetto during the waning years of the 1930s. He uses his artistic skills to create fake passports to help Jews escape as well as underground cartoons making fun of the Nazis, which infuriates his father. “You’ll put us all in danger,” he yells. Yet these humorous creations give a rare laugh in a place of absolute misery.

            When the War begins, Joseph and his family are sent to the Plaszow prison camp, overseen by the sadistic Kommendant Amon Goth (Josh Blacker) and his right-hand man Fran Gruen (Yan Tuel). Gruen is determined to make Joseph’s life as Hellish as possible, though he can’t outright kill him due to his skills as a cartographer. He does the next worst thing by beating him mercilessly and shooting his father right in front of him. Despite this carnage, Joseph finds hope in Rebecca (Inbar Lavi), a young woman with whom he instantly falls in love and finds secret ways to show his affection. They even manage to get married before being split apart as the Allies gain ground.

            Decades later, an older, more cynical Joseph continues to make fake passports for the Mossad in Israel. He is visited by an ambitious young lawyer who wants to put Gruen in prison for war crimes and needs Joseph’s testimony. Joseph is skeptical about their chances as Gruen has gotten off charges before but is impressed with the young man fervor and agrees to help.  

            It is fitting that a film about an artist would experiment with the mise-en-scène, and McNamara performs in striking fashion. The prison camp scenes are photographed in black and white, mirroring the filmmaking of the time while the later scenes in the 70s are in color. When Joseph finishes his first flirtation with Rebecca, she leaves a little trail of multicolored, stenciled flowers in her wake, demonstrating the joy she brings to his day. Throughout the film, his drawings will suddenly come to life or move about like a Harry Potter picture. An artist like Joseph lives in an enchanted cosmos where everything has meaning, everything is alive. Reality is malleable, full of angels, demons, and the work of the Divine which is open to us if we have eyes to see it.

            Joseph keeps the spirit of his friends alive with humor. The first movie that juxtaposed comedy with the Holocaust experience was Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful, which was quite controversial when it appeared in 1998. How could one make jokes in the context of such overwhelming evil? Humor is not simply a coping mechanism but a spiritual weapon. It reminds the audience that this evil will not last forever and ultimately lose. The resurrection of Jesus is the greatest “joke” ever performed in the sense that it upends expectations, bringing the greatest good from the darkest evil. Joseph understands this. He creates funny cartoons of the Nazis in the camps to remind his fellow prisoners that their humanity can never be taken away, and that this “superior race” is subject to mistakes and humiliations as them.

            His 2nd spiritual weapon is romantic love. This seems even more foolhardy than the satirical comics but is more important. At first, Joseph’s small affections are little compliments to Rebecca whenever he sees her. Soon, he employs others to pass notes or gifts to her since the women and men’s quarters are separate. The psychologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl famous stated that “a man can endure almost any ‘how’ if he has a ‘why.’” The prisoners gain purpose by helping these two lovers connect and ultimately be married under a canopy in the women’s barracks. Married love is defined by self-sacrifice. Joseph was drawn to Rebecca not just be her beauty but when he caught her smuggling bread out of Goth’s kitchen for her fellow inmates. She was attracted to him not just for his wit but the clever ways he got people out of trouble. Getting married was the ultimate act of rebellion, refusing to allow the Nazis to stop the sacramental economy of God.

            It would be easy for a cynic to sneer at Bau, Artist at War as just another Holocaust movie, especially given the crossovers with Schindler’s List: unusual cinematography, a violin-based score, Joseph’s wedding, Goth’s atrocities, and even a cameo by Spielberg in the credits. Yet it is a beautiful and deeply moving film, and there is always something new to discover in any human experience, especially one so vast and horrific. The lesson this time is a laugh in the darkness can be more potent than a gunshot, and a single holy kiss more efficacious than the schemes of a thousand demons. 

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