This German – Australian co-production regarding a German family trying to survive the end of World War II takes a different approach to its subject, telling the story from the kids’ perspective as they walk away from their former, comfortable life toward what they hope will be safety and security.  Even so, I disliked much of it and was disturbed by its main character. The film this reminds me of is Winter’s Bone, which netted Jennifer Lawrence her first Oscar nomination, and was a movie that I frankly couldn’t stand.

Credit should be given to the writers and director Cate Shortland for creating a story that eschews sensationalism in favor of the harrowing reality of forcing five children (one of them a baby) to walk unchaperoned through a hostile countryside as the war draws to an end.  Glimpses the kids see of their crumbling society are effective and powerful, as distrust and selfishness rule the land.  But this isn’t a tale about the “big picture.”  The movie details how the children suffer as they journey on, and I think it gets those details right.

So why didn’t I like it?  First, it’s a darned depressing story, even assuming that they reach their goal so far away (their grandmother’s house).  Bad stuff happens, and it happens to kids.  Second, the quite necessary tone of the picture is so much like the aforementioned Winter’s Bone that I pretty much despised — or at least didn’t trust — any adult in the movie.  There is, of course, nothing wrong with portraying people in such a fashion, especially under circumstances like these where survival is difficult and paramount, but I don’t find this approach entertaining.  Even when such a tale is well acted and profoundly written, as in Schindler’s List, I am not drawn back to such material again and again.  Once is enough.

Third, and most problematic for me, I was bothered by the main character, Lore (short for Hannelore).  As portrayed by pretty young Saskia Rosendahl, Lore is just entering puberty, and confused by adulthood.  It is Lore’s contradictions that either drew me out of the story or frustrated my sense of logic.  Sure, real people are often confused and contradictory, but an artistic work demands more unity than this one provides.  Viewers more grounded in psychology would probably find the movie more rewarding than I do; it just confounded me at key moments.  And in a story like this, when one cannot identify or empathize with the main characters, interest is difficult to sustain.  Ultimately I think Lore is a fairly well made movie but I cannot justify a recommendation for it.  ☆ ☆.  11 April 2013.