The Last Butterfly

Starring:Tom Courtenay, Brigitte Fossey, Ingrid Held, Freddie Jones, Milan Knazko, Josef Kemr, Ludek Kopriva, Pavel Bobek, Josef Laufer, Drahomira Fialkova, Rudolf Pellar, JirÃ LÃr, Hana HegerovÃ¡, Jitka MolavcovÃ¡, Linda Jablonska, Daniel Margolius, Kamila Hodouskova, Haika Halberstatova, MarkÃ©ta StavÃkovÃ¡, JirÃ Malek
Director: Karel Kachyna
Studio: SHANACHIE
Product Type: DVD

Description

1st Prize - Vienna Film Festival. Grand Prize - Venice Film Festival. It is wartime - 1944, and Europe is brutalized by the horror of Nazi aggression and inhumanity. In the tiny Czech village of Terezin, the Nazis plan a propaganda coup to reshape the international opinion. In a master scheme to show a caring face of Nazism, Hitler has given the village to Jewish settlers as a place where they can live in freedom, reassuring a Red Cross delegation - and the world - of their peaceful intentions towards Jews. To provide a convincing "show," the Nazis have plucked the great French mime, Antoine Moreau (Tom Courtenay), from his waning career and ordered him to put on the greatest show of his life. The Reich spares no expense in providing the finest sets, orchestra and costumes. In return he will receive a generous fee and guaranteed return to Paris. But Antoine becomes driven with the need to tell the world the truth, regardless of personal risk. Although in mime he knows his lips must be sealed, now, as never before, his voice must be heard.

Customer Reviews:

Dubbed.......2006-12-08

I am very irritated that Amazon does not list anywhere that this movie is dubbed. I'm also irritated that it's dubbed in the first place. Thank you to everyone who wrote a review mentioning that this film is dubbed since Amazon neglected to provide this information at all. I would buy this movie if they offered a subtitled version.

A slow awakening.......2006-07-03

This is a chilling movie, but also slow paced. Tom Courtenay, in the role of a famous mime, is forced to stage a childrens play for the Gestapo to show the Red Cross that all is well in the 'Jew Town'. He slowly comes to the understanding of what is happening to the Jews, and he makes the play more and more elaborate, with a larger and larger cast. Unlike in Schindler's List, where the list meant life, his list only provides transient protection.

The movie is dubbed, and some of the singing voices appear to be all from one person. But then again, this is not a high budget film. Other than scene selection, there are no bells and whistles on the DVD.

The Holocaust for Children.......2006-04-24

Of all the holocaust movies I've seen, I can't recall any others that focus on the children. Parents who would like to teach their children about the holocaust of the Jews during W.W.II would do well to show their children this movie because it is something to which they would be able to relate. There is little, if any bad language or violence; there is one brief sex scene between the mime and the children's teacher. On the whole, it is a wholesome movie about a great evil.

Quite a bit has been written by some other reviewers regarding Stella's fully naked body shown in one scene. It needs to be emphasized that it is in no way erotic; it is simply the thinking of a young girl who has been living in a dorm where baths and simply changing clothes would be in full view of the others, much like the Jewish Kibbutz children in Palestine during the same era. The only observation I would make is that it seems inconsistent for her to get in the tub with her underwear on, say "no looking" and then a few minutes later come into the next room innocently naked.

Another interesting element in this movie is that the mime was not Jewish. He, in fact, was held in suspicion by the Jews for some time. Parents, especially of Jewish children, might want to point out to their children that it wasn't just Jews the Germans killed.

The reason I don't give this five stars is that the whole episode seems to have been pointless. There is no evidence that anyone except the German officers and Jews, people within the ghetto, got the message of the Hansel & Gretel mime play. Apparently, the Red Cross people didn't understand the message, and were even so stupid they would buy that the mime had already left the camp for Paris only a few minutes after the show.

The main value of this movie is that it is one that can be used to show children what the ghettos during The Holocaust were like in a way that the children can relate.

[There is now a 2005 movie entitled "Fateless" that deals with a child's view of the Holocost. It is about a 14-year-old boy who is taken off a Budapest bus and sent to the concentration camps. He survivied the experience, and it is based on his actual real-life experiences. Unfortunately, it is in Hungarian, with subtitles. However, it is a NY Times 'Critic's Pick' movie and I feel it it worth watching even with the subtitiles.]

WELL INTENTIONED, PERHAPS -- BUT SIGNIFICANTLY FLAWED.......2006-02-05

There are some good things about this film -- it gives audiences an idea of how insidious the Nazi propaganda machine was, for one thing. It also shows the main character, Antoine Moreau, a (fictional) famous French mime, having his eyes opened to the reality of the Nazis' 'final solution' to the 'Jewish problem'. Brought to a Czech town that has been 'given to the Jews' by the Nazis in order to stage a performance that will be seen by the Swiss Red Cross delegation, hopefully persuading them that the Germans are not as monstrous as they have been portrayed, Moreau changes his original idea for the performance, hoping to get a 'silent' message to the Red Cross that will let them know the true fate of Jews (and other 'undesirables') at the hands of the Nazis.

I'll briefly mention a couple of less-than-positive observations, and then get into my main problem with the film. The production values reminded me a bit of a made-for-TV movie -- and from time to time it seemed that the sound was a little out of sync with the picture. The image quality on the DVD could have been much better as well. Also, the Shanachie DVD release is version of the film that has been dubbed with English. This is, in the case of this film, not very well-done. The cabaret singer, for instance, comes across as completely unbelievable in that her voice doesn't match her face or ethnicity in the least. Everyone in the film winds up with an English accent, which detracts from any authenticity that might have been retained using subtitles instead of clumsy dubbing.

Another reviewer below brought up the dubbing problem as it apples to one of one of the children, Stella (portrayed by Linda Jablonska). Her voice does not sound at all like that of a little girl. She develops a bit of a crush on Antoine, which in itself seems like a pretty natural occurrence under the circumstances -- here is a famous artist who has come to the village to stage a show, with her as one of the leads, who is kind and supportive and friendly to her, who listens to her ideas and feelings with attention and respect.

The problem I had was with one scene in particular. Stella has been caught on the streets after curfew and chased by police. She bites one of them and manages to elude them by squeezing through a break in a fence. In the process of getting away, she gets muddy, scrapes herself bloody in a few places, and tears her clothing. She goes to Moreau's hotel and climbs to the ledge outside his room and taps on the window. When he opens it, he is shocked at her condition, lets her into the room, and begins to try to clean her cuts and scrapes, asking what had happened. He then draws a bath for her, so she can wash herself. As Moreau sits down, still in a bit of a daze over what has happened to her, she steps into the bath. Just before she pulls her dress over her head, she says to him, `No looking.' He shakes his head to bring himself out of his daze and says `Of course', then repairs to the adjoining bedroom, where he lies down on the bed to have a smoke, allowing her to conduct her bath in privacy. A moment later, he hears a noise and looks up to see Stella emerge from the bathroom, completely naked, in a full-frontal nude shot. Moreau gets up from the bed and lifts the covers, suggesting that she warm herself. She climbs into the bed; he covers her up, and steps away to the other side of the room. There is nothing about the scene that implies that anything improper occurred. He has simply offered her care and comfort and sympathy.

This shot only lasts a few seconds, but I feel that, regardless of the director's reasoning for shooting it in the first place, it could have been left out. If the point was to show that Moreau has either had morals all along, or that he has acquired them, it could have been demonstrated in a variety of other ways.

Earlier in the film, Stella had witnessed one of her caregivers, semi-nude, in Moreau's hotel room (Stella saw this from outside). Given her `schoolgirl crush' on Moreau, it seemed natural for her to become upset over this. As a result, however, the scene after the bath comes across as a young girl inappropriately mimicking adult sexual behaviour. This, combined with the `adult' voice dubbed over Stella's, makes the scene even more disquieting.

There are some viewers who might argue that, in Europe, `standards' involving nudity and sexuality are not as reactionary as those in the US. In many instances, I would wholeheartedly agree with them. There is much hypocrisy in the dynamics of American culture and moral values, and not a little bit of neurosis. However, the sexual objectification of children is something about which I feel very strongly...and I think the scene in question in this film amounts to exactly that. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not so prudish that I turn away from even full-frontal nudity in a film, if it's not gratuitous and it's an integral part of the storyline...but here, it involves a prepubescent girl, and could have easily been left out. It worries me bit that this point has not been made by other reviewers. Have we become so numbed in respect to nudity in films that many can't recognize an instance where it's not only unnecessary, but potentially harmful?

I'm glad I've seen the film -- and I'd recommend it with a bit of praise and some strong reservations, as noted above. With all of the ridiculous claims from some quarters that the Holocaust never happened, I think it's vitally important for films on the subject to be made and seen.

The Czech film ALL MY LOVED ONES is an excellent film about this horrible time that has not gotten the attention it deserves -- seek it out.

n.b. -- This is the second time I have posted this exact review. I noticed today (6 April 2006) that it has, for some reason, been removed from the site. I've re-read what I've written, and I don't see anything objectionable or offensive. The issues I have with the film are discussed straightforwardly. If anyone objects to anything I've written here, I'd like to know what it is.

You don't get better then this!.......2000-09-05

A must for all who care about what happened to the Jews or gypsies in Germany and throughout Europe from the 1930's until the end of the war.This film is both moving and entertaining. It should be shown in all high schools around the country and throughout the world. A film for all serious movie buffs.

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