Divided We Fall
A daring comedy of ethics,Divided We Falltakes place during World War II in a small, Nazi-occupied town in Czechoslovakia. Josef and Maria, a childless couple, have withdrawn further and further from reality even as the war circles closer to their eerily quiet town. Josef's decision to sleep through a war he doesn't want to acknowledge is soon tested when the Jewish son of his former employer arrives in the middle of the night seeking refuge. David, the sole survivor from his family, escaped from a concentration camp in Poland and managed to return to the only place he knows in search of help. As they harbor David in their pantry over the next three years, Josef and Maria discover the depth of their resolve, forced to play the role of seeming collaborators in order to save themselves and David. Reminiscent more of Yugoslav filmmaker Emir Kustirica's devastating brand of black humor (Underground,Time of the Gypsies) than the saccharineLife Is Beautiful, to which it has been repeatedly compared,Divided We Fallachieves quite a lot, capturing the pervasive suspicion and betrayal of World War II through the unexpected guise of situation comedy.--Fionn Meade