Sean McNamara comes off the misfire that is Reagan with Bau, Artist At War. This is another story based on a real person’s hardships throughout their life, but the screenwriters of the former are not present. Instead, Deborah Smerecnik, Ron Bass, and Sonia Kifferstein wrote the script based on Joseph Bau’s memoir Dear God, Have You Ever Gone Hungry?. Is this Holocaust drama a return to form for the filmmaker, or does the over-the-top silliness of his last movie rear its head once again?
“…the realities of being in a concentration camp soon settle in, and things get tougher for the couple…”
Joseph Bau (Emile Hirsch) sees the world in a slightly different way from everyone else. His unique perspective enables him to maintain an upbeat attitude, even while crammed into a single room with his mother, father, and others in the ghetto of Kraków. Unfortunately, it isn’t long before Joseph and his family are rounded up and sent to the Płaszów concentration camp in 1942. Due to his artistic background, Kommendant Goeth (Josh Blacker) enlists him to be the mapmaker, allowing troop movements and the like to be tracked. This gets under the skin of Franz Gruen (Yan Tual), who seethes with hatred for Joseph.
Wildly enough, it is in the camp that Joseph meets Rebecca (Inbar Lavi) and is instantly smitten. She finds him odd at first, but once she discovers his dedication to helping others and his love for his family, she too falls in love. But the realities of being in a concentration camp soon settle in, and things get tougher for the couple and the other Jews the Nazis have jailed in Płaszów.
"…excellent from beginning to end."
