As a little girl in the bleak German psychodrama Lea , the title character has her beloved kite destroyed, witnesses the beating and rape of her mother, gets chained up in a dank crawlspace, and stabs her abusive father in the back with a fork. At this point, the opening credits haven't finished rolling.
More brutality follows.
Though the story bears a superficial resemblance to The Piano , Lea is closer to the tradition of Grimm Brothers fables and existential German melodramas such as Woyzeck , which also require an extensive journey through the darkness before its characters can come out the other side. Whether the film itself is ultimately redeemable may depend on the viewer's tolerance for morbid shock, but Fila's forceful vision remains consistent and admirable throughout. If nothing else, his emotional payoffs are as far from sentiment as Lea 's protagonist is to a simple grin. Copyright 2001 Onion, Inc., All rights reserved.