The loosely noticed conceit of “Still Life in Lodz” is that sure objects bear passive witness to historical past. In this documentary, directed by Slawomir Grunberg, Lilka Elbaum, a historic researcher born in Lodz, Poland, begins with a portray from the condo in Lodz the place she grew up. The portray had held on a wall there since 1893, she says. It was the very first thing she noticed within the morning, and its absence left a “gaping wound” on the wall when her household left Poland in 1968, emigrating to North America to flee anti-Semitism.
Grunberg and Elbaum interweave tales of exits from totally different durations. Elbaum meets with Roni Ben Ari, an Israeli-born photographer whose household lived in Elbaum’s constructing many years earlier till leaving Poland in 1926. Paul Celler, a real-estate developer raised in New Jersey, excursions Lodz with Elbaum in search of traces there from the lifetime of his mom, who spent two years within the Lodz ghetto and was then taken to Auschwitz. Elbaum additionally tells the story of Pola Erlich, a dentist who lived in Elbaum’s eventual condo earlier than World War II. She was despatched to the Lodz ghetto and the Chelmno loss of life camp.
Because Erlich lived within the condo that later turned Elbaum’s, her story suits the central via line — that an inanimate portray might open a window on successive tragedies. But a lot of the fabric feels arbitrarily chosen — and typically simply arbitrary. (Elbaum visits a recent Polish flea market looking for info on the portray’s creator, who was Russian. Is {that a} logical place to look?) The particular person tales are highly effective, as are the visible comparisons between present-day and historic places. Just a few animated sequences successfully evoke the evanescence of reminiscence.
Still Life in Lodz
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 15 minutes. Watch through virtual cinemas.
