Why you should watch Farsi Lessons on the Holocaust

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A touching picture unusually reveals the characters of the heroes and makes one think about the very nature of evil.

On April 8, a new picture by Vadim Perelman ("House of Sand and Fog") will be released on Russian screens. “Farsi Lessons”, filmed in Belarus, was already shown in 2020 in the out-of-competition program of the Berlin Film Festival, where it was very warmly received. Then they even wanted to send the picture to the Oscar. Alas, she did not meet the requirements: a significant part of the cast turned out to be from other countries.

It would seem that Perelman's film exploits a long familiar theme: it is the story of a Jew's survival in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Nevertheless, "Lessons of Farsi" help to look a little differently at the traditional plot. For all the gloom, the picture remains life-affirming, but prompts one to think about why someone justifies violence.

The story of the banality of evil

Belgian Jew Gilles (Nahuel Perez Biscayart), along with other arrested persons, is shaking in a cramped truck. On the way, a starving neighbor begs for half a loaf. In return, the hero receives a very expensive book, on the first page of which there is an inscription in Farsi (Persian). This gift will indeed prove valuable and even salutary for Gilles. The truck arrives at a clearing in the forest, where Nazi soldiers routinely take out the arrested in groups and immediately shoot them.

Gilles falls to the ground in advance, and when they want to finish him off, he begins to shout that he is not a Jew, but a Persian. He presents a book as evidence. Since the soldiers did not have an order to shoot the Persians, the man is sent to Buchenwald. And then the amazing begins. It turns out that Officer Koch (Lars Eidinger), a former chef, decided to move to Tehran after the war. He takes Gilles under his wing, for which he must teach him Farsi. But the prisoner has to come up with words of an unknown language on the go, and even remember this nonsense himself.

The very basis of the plot of "Farsi Lessons" seems to be like a fairy tale (or rather a parable). At first, it's hard to believe that the German soldiers suddenly listened to one of those they wanted to shoot. One can doubt both Koch's plans and his unexpected affection for Zhil. All these, of course, are artistic assumptions necessary for the plot, and not an attempt to reflect reality.

But very soon it will become clear that such moves are needed not only for the plot. They reflect the main idea that Perelman wanted to show in his film. Unlike many paintings, where German soldiers are shown as cruel and almost fanatical, here many of them look like ordinary people. The guards and camp workers in Lessons of Farsi are more like office workers: it's not for nothing that the authors launch several secondary storylines.

Officers flirt with girls and spread rumors about each other. Koch is more like a tyrant boss who brings his secretary to tears for poor handwriting and often thinks about what he will do after the war. Only one most grotesque villain considers it his duty to expose Gilles. The rest of this story is not at all interesting.

However, this is not perceived as an excuse for their crimes. On the contrary, the plot brings to mind the famous book by Hannah Arendt, The Banality of Evil. It says that many Nazis were indifferent to the ideas of the leaders, and believed that they were doing the necessary work.

These people routinely torture and take the life of others, and each does not take responsibility for anything. Soldiers follow orders, but officers do not shoot with their own hands. Koch will one day say bluntly that he is not the one who kills the prisoners. As always, only the system is to blame.

In the modern world, such a plot is no less important than the traditional tales of the horrors of the camps. The film shows not just grotesque, but distant villains, but makes you wonder how an ordinary person can get used to violence and try not to notice it.

Ambiguous heroes

Another wise trick in "Lessons of Farsi" is the images of the main characters. Perelman seems to cancel the division into a typically positive character and an antagonist. From the very beginning, Gilles seems cunning and shy. Perez Biscayart perfectly plays every scene: his lost gaze, indifference to the fate of other prisoners emphasize the character's features.

Gilles does not pull on a model of morality: he grumbles at the neighbors in the barracks who interfere with sleep, knowing that they will be shot in the morning. This is somewhat reminiscent of the main character of the comic "Mouse" Art Spiegelman. There, a typical Jew in the same way in all possible ways fought for survival, often exposing himself to be a complete egoist.

Koch appears to counterbalance him. At first, he seems to be a real villain: aggressive, does not listen to anyone, he is only used to commanding. Lars Eidinger clearly plays one of his best roles: he literally crushes everyone else in the frame. But the more this hero is revealed, the more ambiguous he seems. Koch even joined the Nazi party for the company. He frankly regrets that he did not follow his escaped brother, and sensibly realizes that Germany will lose the war.

And as soon as Gilles turns from a servile assistant into an independent person, all the feigned sharpness of Koch collapses. He himself follows the lead of the prisoner and begins to help others. Of course, the officer will not even come to the faint likeness of Oskar Schindler, saving only one friend. Still, the character will outgrow his original image. This, of course, will not justify him, but it will help the viewer to see a couple of familiar features in the villain. And, perhaps, be afraid of such realism.

As for Gilles, then changes await him. It even seems that he has turned into a real hero. But it is at this point that other prisoners will die because of Gilles.

The importance of memory and wit

After the description, it may seem strange that we called this film life-affirming. From the very first scenes, the pale color palette plunges into a gloomy atmosphere. And the superbly built surroundings of Buchenwald with the famous, but no less frightening inscription Jedem das Seine makes you feel complete doom.

The subtlety is that the main storyline seems to be borrowed from comedies. No, "Lessons of Farsi" does not try to repeat the legendary film "Life is Beautiful" by Roberto Benigni, where everything was built on the contrast of the funny and the scary. But Gilles clearly owes his wit and invention to heroes like the Tramp Charlie Chaplin, who always find a way out of the most difficult situations.

But in this picture, the comedic idea is placed in a dramatic entourage. For Gilles, the need to come up with a fake language turns into a matter of life and death, so I sincerely want to worry about him. And surely many viewers, at the moment when he forgets the next word, will begin to prompt him out loud.

At first, Gilles' method will also seem funny, even if you show it to coaches: use all available means, structure, develop. The hero not only teaches Koch new words, but also comes up with them, remembers and one day even begins to think in a fictional language. And it could be funny even in the setting of a dark film - if not for the completely disarming ending.

He again returns to the idea that the film is built like a parable: the moral is straightforward and even deliberate. But the hero's salvation was shown in the very first shots, which means that the main point is not in his survival: the main role is played by Gilles' knowledge. What all the time seemed to be just a means of survival is turning into a real monument.

And the film itself, like the main character, is important not only for the story of one not the most attractive person. This is a tribute to the memory of thousands of people who failed to survive. Let each of them appear in the picture for just a couple of seconds.

Farsi Lessons is a great example of lively and emotional cinema that does not follow the cliche of the genre. The characters in this story seem very familiar and make you think about similar situations in peacetime. And at the same time, the picture reminds of the horrors of war and camps. Without unnecessary tearfulness, but with a very important humanistic message.