“Great Movie About Saving Thousands”
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What You Need To Know:
BAU: ARTIST AT WAR is a moving depiction of the incredible true story of Joseph and Rebecca Bau. It is both humorous and heartbreaking. Lead actors Emile Hirsch and Inbar Lavi, deliver incredible, heartfelt performances as the two leads. What makes the movie so extraordinary is a script that includes the pain and suffering but punctuates it with real humor and heartfelt romance. Of course, Emile and Inbar’s performances have a lot to do with that, as does Director Sean McNamara. MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong caution for teenagers and adults because of some intense violence and brief foul language.
Content:
Very strong moral worldview from a Jewish, biblical perspective, with some strong redemptive elements, one of which reflects a Christian allusion to Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for people, includes many scenes feature characters talking about their faith and reciting the Jewish Shabbat blessing even while imprisoned, movie has a strong emphasis on helping others and sacrifice, Joseph Bau and Rachel and their friends in the Resistance are dedicated to helping others despite putting their own lives at risk, Joseph’s father takes the fall for one of Joseph’s jokes, and this leads to him being shot, as he knows how valuable Joseph is to the Resistance, and Rachel also sacrifices herself to make sure Joseph is sent to Schindler’s factory instead of her, because she knows his forgery skills are important to help save others, plus the movie is thoroughly Anti-Nazi and celebrates freedom, but there’s a politically correct moment where a minor character is a homosexual who says in one brief scene that he’s in the concentration camp because he “loves” the “wrong” person;
Eight obscenities (including one “f” word), two Jewish slurs, some instances of bathroom humor (title character lies to German camp officers that was a diarrhea outbreak in the women’s bunkhouse to hide the fact that he married his girlfriend in a women’s dorm and slept the night with her), title character shows his middle finger, and a character uses a faucet in title character’s 1971 studio n Tel Aviv where title character has painted a man on the wall behind it to make it look like a man is urinating when the faucet is turned on;
Some strong and light violence includes evil German guard whips the title character instead of the character’s elderly father, a dead prisoner is shown tangled in the camp’s electric fence as he had committed suicide, a female prisoner is beaten to death off-camera, but viewers can hear what’s happening after the guard shuts the door, a character’s father is shot in front of him, title character is clubbed and unconscious as the National Socialist troops evacuate the prisoners from Plaszow, there’s footage of a man being hung for stealing, a woman’s obscured dead body in an office (she was giving the camp commandant a manicure but clipped one of his fingers, camp commandant angrily shoves woman’s head down on some documents on his desk that she was perusing, guard shoots prisoner dead in cold blood for weeping over his wife’s gravesite, German officers get violently angry from time to time, and Israelis in 1971 Tel Aviv walk to bomb shelters while missile explosions occur;
No sex scenes but it’s implied that a recently married couple spend the night together on their wedding night;
Upper and rear male nudity (one scene shows National Socialist German guards forcing prisoners to strip and take cold showers and then stand outside in the cold (some rear nudity is shown, but men are shown holding their hands over their genitals;
Some alcohol use;
Some smoking, but no drugs; and,
Title characters, prisoners and Resistance members in the German concentration camp lie and sneak, but it is all in service of others and helping to save their own lives, and many scenes feature the National Socialist bigotry against Jews.
More Detail:
The movie begins in 1971 with a young lawyer traveling to Tel Aviv Israel to convince Joseph Bau to testify at the trial of Gruen, a former Nazi and concentration camp officer. Joseph is reluctant, but agrees to tell his story to the lawyer and let a recording be used for the trial.
The movie flashes back to 1943, where Joseph is living in a ghetto in Krakow, Poland. Despite his circumstances, he continues to find joy and humor in everyday life. He also uses his artistic skills to make forged documents for others, helping them escape the Nazis.
Eventually, he and his family are sent to the Plaszow concentration camp. Joseph is soon pulled from his hard labor duties to work in the commandant’s office, making maps and propaganda posters. He also continues to lift the spirits of those around him, telling jokes and entertaining people with flip-book images.
While in Plaszow, Joseph meets Rebecca, a former nurse who’s now working as the commandant’s manicurist. She’s initially wary of Joseph’s sunny demeanor; and, when a friend suggests bringing him into their work for the Resistance, she refuses, calling him “soft.”
After getting to know Joseph better, Rebecca relents, and he’s brought into the Resistance. A group in Plaszow works with Oskar Schindler, who is smuggling prisoners marked for execution into his factory, saving them from death. Joseph helps forge documents for those being freed and is encouraged by the work he’s doing, maintaining his optimism and hope.
However, after his father is shot in front of him, Joseph’s hope begins to falter. Rebecca reminds him that everyone in the camp takes their cues from him, using his cheerfulness to remind them of their own hope. His optimism renewed, Joseph asks Rebecca to marry him, and the two wed.
Their future together becomes more precarious when the Germans decide to send most of the prisoners to the Auschwitz death camp, with only a few people marked for Schindler’s new munitions factory.
BAU: ARTIST AT WAR is so well shot and performed that you feel like you’re actually feeling the emotions Bau felt. Viewers who have visited one of the concentration camps after the war will find it amazing that they recreated the camp so authentically. Throughout the movie, there are Jewish celebrations such as the Passover Seder, daily prayer and the wedding. These scenes give the movie tremendous spiritual depth.
BAU: ARTIST AT WAR is a moving depiction of the incredible true story of Joseph and Rebecca Bau. It is both humorous and heartbreaking, carried by lead actors Emile Hirsch and Inbar Lavi, who deliver incredible, heartfelt performances. Of course, Director Sean McNamara has a lot to do with the movie’s artistic success and compelling storytelling. One of Sean’s most striking devices is to show brief clips of Bau’s amazing artwork about the Holocaust and some of the people in the camp, including Rebecca. The clips have a great impact.
BAU: ARTIST AT WAR has a strong moral worldview, told from a biblical perspective. Characters discuss their faith and their reliance on God, and several scenes show them performing the Shabbat blessing, even while in the concentration camp. Joseph, Rebecca and their friends work tirelessly to help others, knowing that they are putting their own lives at risk. There are several violent scenes, as well as some strong language. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong caution for teenagers and adults.
BAU is one of the best movies made in the last 20 years. It makes a great companion piece to Stephen Spielberg’s SCHINLDER’S LIST.
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