Train of Life (1998) User Reviews (45)

Marvelous fable plenty of lively comedy , good feeling and Jewish customs

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 23 November 2009]

The village's dumb named Scholomo(Abelanski) comes running and shouting that the Jews from near little towns are being deported towards unknown locations. That same night the Jewish council of wise men (presided by Clement Harari) is reunited to find a manner to save the villagers. They determine that people will be shielded from the horrors around them and somehow finds a way to do it. Then Scholome proposes an original idea, organize a false deportation train so which they can flee the Nazis passing the Russian frontier and escape to Palestine. Some Jewish are dressed in German uniforms(Rufus) and others posing as fake prisoners. Their efforts sometimes are pure fantasy , though with ruse they pull off the feat to keep the faith on their dreams.

This is a story about love, war and sacrifice , well starred and directed. Extraordinary movie with comedy upon an irrepressible group who refuses to ever give in to adversity and some moment is spoken in Yiddish and German language with subtitles. A beguiling and unique fable that celebrates the human spirit and the freedom. This amusing picture contains some of ¨Fiddler on the roof¨(Norman Jewison,1971), including violin performance , ¨Life is beautiful¨ (Roberto Benigni ,1997) and ¨The last train¨(Joseph Vilsmaier, 2006). Excellent performances by all cast, as Harari as veteran rabbi trying to preserve Jewish heritage against growing odds, Rufus as Jew posing as Nazi officer, Michel Muller as Jewish infected with the fast-spreading germ of communism, and Agatha La Fontaine as gorgeous youngster, among them. Emotive and hearty score melodically performed by Goran Bregovic, Emir Kusturica's usual. Director Radu Mihaileanu tirelessly maintains the humorous ingenuity and shapes simultaneously hilarious and haunting comedy. Rating : Better than average. Well worth watching.

you will laugh crying.

[thirdeye · 8/10 · 5 October 1999]

this brilliant film came out from a brilliant mind, that has a Jewish background. who shows this story is then a person who is talking about a tragedy that he indirectly lived or at least he lived through his parents tales. watching this movie you will become aware of the holocaust tragedy. however the way this movie is treated is unusual, because of its terrific irony. you will learn a terrible truth but laughing, or, to say it better, your mouth will laugh while your heart will be crying.probably at the end of the film you will feel stupid for having laughed for all its duration. if you loved "Life is beautiful", well then you can't miss "Trein de vie". a special suggestion is to check the soundtrack out carefully, it rocks!!

Can Jew's running from Nazi's be funny?

[rmaxm · 7/10 · 26 January 1999]

Answer: Yes. This film continued to surprise me with the way it handled this concept. Some may find the idea too hard to handle but it treats the heroes with enough respect that no offense should be taken. Watch out for the "Kick in the gut" ending.

Wow!!!

[rps-2 · 10/10 · 21 March 2001]

This is a magnificent film. Like "Life Is Beautiful" it manages to be a comedy about the Holocaust but also a sensitive and thoughtful study of it. It's beautifully filmed, wonderfully acted, superbly directed. I can't think of a film I've seen this year that is more entertaining and more thought provoking. It's a comedy, it's a fantasy, it's a musical, it's a drama, it's a romance, it's an allegory and, yes, it's a tragedy. It's also wonderfully European with none of the predictable Hollywood cliches but with fascinating symbolism and revealing studies of human dynamics. But not the least artsey-dartsey. And how I'm tempted to give away the ending. But no! I wouldn't want anyone to miss that cinematic fist in the gut. Wow!!! The whole hour and a half is crystalized in a five second closeup. You won't be prepared for it! This is one of the few films I've ever given a ten!

Save judgement until the end- ****

[JKJensen · 31 December 1999]

I was disappointed recently as I read poor reviews of one of the best films I've ever seen. I saw this film twice at the Sundance Film Festival and was impressed and enjoyed the sensitive and comedic depiction of WW2 and populations facing war, however, you must stay to the very end, and let the final scene sink in to get the complete effect. This is not a heartwarming story of the holocaust, but a fantasy that thrusts the viewer back into reality and the horrors of the holocaust with a final shot that is one of the most heartwrenching and shocking scenes I've seen. Don't compare it with "Life is Beautiful"- many have done this and they are not similar. This film deserves better.

A superb movie!

[carloi · 10/10 · 8 March 2001]

Rarely does one has the pleasure of watching a movie that combines

melancholy, drama, humor and insight into the human heart as this one does. A superb cast does honor to a powerful script. All of those who loved Roberto

Benigni's "Life is beautiful" will be pleased to know that this film treats the same general subject with at least as much humor and sensitivity, but with more depth. I was not familiar with either the director or any of the actors. I just hope we will see more from them, as I can't praise this work enough.

A Magic Realism Touch to Recall Life Before the Holocaust

[noralee · 7/10 · 7 October 2005]

Despite a really annoying audience of noisy senior citizens I got into the spirit of "Train of Life (Train de vie)" (though it was odd having the shtetl residents in a foreign-language film speak French until I realized of course in "Jakob the Liar" Robin Williams and Liev Schreiber speak English so why not in a Belgian/Romanian-produced movie wouldn't they speak French?).

It has the immediate feel of the magic realism of "The Milagro Beanfields War" and it no more cheapens the Holocaust than "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" cheapens the Civil War. It is full of the warmth and love of everyday life and personalities come sweetly to life.

I thought the Fool as the Seer was getting a bit much until it's made clear he's not really the Village Idiot so no heavy-handed symbolism.(originally written 11/14/1999)

The Romanian "La Vita E Bella (Life is beautiful)"

[ferconex · 10/10 · 10 February 2006]

Quote: "Mordechai: So Shlomo, have you ever been in love? Slomo: No!!! That would be madness!!"

OK, so there have been too many movies about the Holocaust and there are a lot of people "complaining" about that, but this is not necessary such a movie. It is more like one of the stories written by Isaac Bashevis Singer, and full of the same humor and sadness and irony... it may even be called a comedy, a black Balcanic humor, if people won't be offended by the association comedy - Holocaust... It is somehow the same way that "Life is beautiful" is a comedy, and the subjects are contiguous... It is a shame that the movie does not have an English subtitle (or at least one that I could find) but for the French speaker it is wonderful to watch in its original language. But try to find it. Give it a chance, even just because it comes mainly from Romania, and you are curious what can these guys do (check out the "Awards" section). And I promise you you'll be impressed. Or at least touched.

The Phantom Train

[dromasca · 7/10 · 27 November 2003]

The Holocaust comedy may be a surprising genre for some - but I am sure many of the Holocaust victims would understand it. Humor is one of the secrets of Jewish survival, and even in the darkest times as WWII, Jews tried to cope with the situation with a mix of faith, resolution and a unique humor that survived and helped them survive the times.

Radu Mihaileanu's film is a fantastic story of hope and dreams in horrific times. The idea is good and original, with an ending fifteen minutes that pay back some of the viewers hard time in the mid of the film. There are a lot of good things to be seen here, but also a lot of slow pace and conventional cinema, sometimes even bad cinema. The film is moving and emotional, but more at the abstract level. Too many of the characters on the screen belong to the Jewish (positive) stereotypes descended directly from 'Fiddler on the Roof'. Acting is good, but even the best actors could hardly overcome the schematic approach of the script. The secondary plot of the sudden exposure of the close shtetl society to the non-Jewish world is treated in a way too much similar to some of the Bashevis-Singer books and deserves much more than the simplicist approach given to it in this film

It is always worth making and seeing films that show the Holocaust from different perspectives. 'Train de vie' is neither the best, nor the worst of them. 7/10 on my personal scale.

Absurdly funny yet provoking

[eduardozg · 8/10 · 4 January 2003]

Different people see different things on movies. This, which may be an obvious statement, is specially true about Train de vie. So let me explain what I found, IMHO, marvelous about this movie, and why I would recommend it.

First of all, Train de Vie doesn't try to make a point about the Holocaust - is is just the perceived driver from which this community tries to escape. How this peculiar escape plan (with all odds against success) develops is just an excuse for portraying how war, religion, prejudice, ideologies, etc, end up affecting the life of simple people. Only that, instead of watching an emotionally-filled movie (which is Ok to me, but its not the only way to tell a sensitive story), we are presented with this in a more subtle way: as a townspeople tale where each of these real-world factors is reflected - in a mocked, twisted, funny way- inside the train environment. Communist dogma, nazi's 'ethnic order', social privileges, military commands, everything from which this community was isolated is suddenly 'infecting' people on the train, of course, with absurd consequences that go against the very goal of the community, life - just the same effect the outside-train world is suffering.

I'm not trying to say this is the one and only intention of the movie, yet, it is what I value the most. As for the rest of it, being a tale of townspeople, its characters are stereotyped yet intimate and natural in their motivations; from the music to the dialogs and comic situations, nothing is forced here. And you can end up laughing at the oddity of all this world, while thinking of just how tragically resembling of our own real world it is - something the ending just reinforces.

Whether you choose to see all this as a marvelous tale or as an offense to common sense is up to you; but certainly, there is a lot more to be watched throughout this story than its ending or its historical correctness. And I can hardly see any antisemitism on this.

escape from Nazi Hell to Soviet Heaven

[macias-5 · 7/10 · 4 July 2007]

I am sick when I see such scenario -- Nazis bad, Bolsheviks good. Riiiiight -- it looks like in Western Europe nobody really cares that people were murdered in Soviet Union, and not in one or two death camps. There were established whole "lands" of death camps.

Nobody would survive "the escape", because people coming from German side were treated as spies (even prisoners of war). I realize that the move is a fiction, but it should not insult the memory of the people who died in Soviet Union.

Soviet reality ordeal still waits for its director brave enough to make a movie showing that Stalin, Trocki, Kamieniew, Dzierzynski, etc. were not just politicians, but insane monsters beyond imagination. That there were a lot of Jews in Soviet authorities but also Jews were victims (for example Anti-Fascist Front Leaders, murdered on an order by Stalin).

There is well known story about two trains full of Jews meeting in Brzesc (German-Soviet border in 1939). One train was going from Germany to Soviet Union, the second from the Soviet Union to Germany. And Jews from both trains were escaping and both were laughing of stupidity of the others.

The plot was easy to fix -- train going to Switzerland instead of Soviet Union, believable, more historically accurate... So another attempt of Soviet glorification or just a stupidity of the director?

the touch of the genius

[a1-4 · 9/10 · 10 July 1999]

What is a genius? someone who can get a huge result with a minimum effort. A simple zoom-out and all the story changed its mood and appeared in all its tragedy. I'm Italian and I appreciate Roberto Benigni, but I think that "La vita è bella" is a good film just because there is Benigni as an actor; on the other hand, "Train the vie" is a wonderful film in the whole.

Only a easy comedy

[galileo_contrera · 6/10 · 2 December 2001]

This film is good, but I really prefer "La vida es bella" by Benigni. I think that "El tren de la vida" is a movie that became the jews in idiots and ingenues people. I know that is not easy to make a comedy in the frame of Holocaust, but making films like this, I never hope that improve.

Good in principle, I suppose

[Spleen · 5/10 · 10 November 2001]

I now admire Roberto Benigni all the more. I don't know exactly what happened, but I suspect it was something like this: Benigni saw the "Train of Life" script, thought to himself, "great idea, lousy script - I can do better" ... then he went away and DID better, making a completely different film based on an completely different idea that must have looked, on paper, far less promising. The films are so different that further comparison is silly, except to say this much: as I watched "Train of Life" I thought to myself, "I sure hope this was written and directed by Jews, because otherwise it's in extremely poor taste"; as I watched "Life is Beautiful", no such thought occurred to me. It didn't matter. A film as good as Benigni's justifies itself.

Maybe there's a kind of Yiddish humour here I'm not getting, or getting and not particularly liking. The latter is more likely, since I can see how this would work if it were a printed or spoken story. As a film, the nicest thing I can say is that done properly it probably could have amounted to something valuable. Two things prevent it from doing so. One: we're never as impressed as we should be by the villagers' ingenuity. Take the "communists", who are impossible to take seriously, yet who seriously endanger themselves and everyone else with their random squabbling. Are we really meant to sympathise with people so stupid? I wanted them to survive, but I'd have had an easier time doing so if they'd had some sense of self-preservation themselves. And two: I'm surprised that something with so many close-up shots with a wide-angle lens and such monotonous editing was released in cinemas at all. It was as if Mahaileanu was determined that no detail would be lost when the film played on television. Alas, I think he succeeded.

(It was also a mistake to substitute French for Yiddish - yes, I'm aware that films produced in the English-speaking world are guilty of greater crimes, but that's no reason to pardon this particular one. At one point a character tells us that Yiddish is German spoken with a sense of humour, which is a great line - but our ears tell us that "Yiddish" sounds nothing at all like German, and quite a lot like French.)

Although the film is a poor one, its plot ideas are good enough for sheer good will to carry us through. And the surprise at the end has the required effect. I'm not sure if I approve of this surprise. It served a more worthwhile purpose than a similar surprise in [a 1990s film I can't name - you'll know what I mean if you've seen it], but it was just as much a cheat.

Real Jewish humour!

[Zen Bones · 25 July 2001]

This film is often compared to LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, and with good reason. They are both comedies that take on the treacherously delicate subject of the Holocaust. Also, Benigni turned down the opportunity to make this film and then "borrowed" the idea of a Holocaust comedy to make his film. Which is fine with me because in his hands, the film would have sunk into offensive silliness. Benigni is Italian, which means he is great at Italian humour. But he hasn't an idea as to what real Jewish humour is like. This film is a quintessentially Jewish film. It is about the old world Jewish experience that can only be understood and articulated by a Jew with old world roots. Unfortunately, much of the old world Jewish lifestyle and humour has been lost to recent generations. To some viewers, the characters in this film may seem like characters out of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. But despite the broad characterizations for the benefit of Jewish humour, the characters here are all quite human and honest. Jewish humour by the way, depends on flagrant exaggeration and waggish expression. The film even uses a great analogy of this when it explains that Yiddish is basically German with a sense of humour. Take away the exaggerated humour, and you've got basic German.

The story is about the inhabitants of a French shtetl (Jewish village) who decide to deport themselves to Palestine before the Nazis come and deport them to concentration camps. They buy a train, tailor a few dozen Nazi uniforms and flee across the continent, sidestepping real Nazis and French resistance fighters who think that the train of Jews is a Nazi train. There is a subplot involving an outbreak of communism among some of the Jews on the train that gets a little tired. But then that does live up to the film's title. This train of life is a microcosm of society, with all of its pettiness and short-sightedness.

This is a beautiful film that is much funnier and bittersweet than LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL without the unnecessary manipulations to pull on our heartstrings. For those who want to taste the real Jewish experience, I recommend this highly!

ADDENDUM: There are many who feel that it is sacrilege to make any type of comedy about the Jewish experience during WWll. To make light of suffering or to drastically bend or cover up the truth for the sake of "entertainment", is sacrilege. But this film does not do any of those things. It retains the humour and the dignity of a culture that was almost made extinct. It provides us with a great tribute to the spirit and perseverance of those people.

Fiddler on the Roof meets Life is Beautiful

[david129 · 9/10 · 6 April 2001]

L.I.B. got more publicity because of Begnini and it was a great film. Train of Life has an overall better plot and looks at the holocaust from a more Jewish perspective. Train of Life is a terrific wonderful film and the viewer is not distracted by big name stars. It is a must see that really gets going after the characters are introduced. It's like Fiddler because both movies concentrate on the towns' people.

One of the greatest films ever!

[GUSwim · 10/10 · 5 January 2002]

This movie is a great, fresh, original look at events surrounding the Holocaust. Mind you, this film does not look at the Holocaust itself, but at events surrounding it. It is an epitome of Jewish humor; anyone who finds this movie offensive does not understand this. The movie balances hope and honesty about tragedy beautifully, uses humor in a respectful context to make important deeper points (that is, it is not slapstick), and incorporates brief statements on love and theology. The various emotions that the movie evokes, often depending on the viewer's own mood at the time, allow the movie to be watched repeatedly and for new levels of meaning to reveal themselves. Roberto Benigni may have stolen the concept of "Life is Beautiful" from Mihaileanu's "Train de Vie," but the films cannot be compared. Whereas Benigni glibly believes that love and laughter can conquer all, even the Holocaust, Mihaileanu understands that they can only help one survive separately from the more practical and real danger of physical death. In other words, love and laughter are directly part of the point of "Life is Beautiful"--ends in themselves--a somewhat offensive concept. In "Train de Vie," on the other hand, they are on the side and only serve as foils, as means to ends. The ending of "Train de Vie" further eliminates any glib concept of easy survival that is present in "Life is Beautiful." A must see, especially for anyone who has seen and disliked "Life is Beautiful."

hilarious. kind of blackcatwhitecat, just with a more crueler connection. loved it.

[mehobulls · 7/10 · 13 September 2020]

So many intercultural elements, integration, accent, national character, idealism overthrown by reality whether in love or in war.

Funny, witty, touching, special - In hard times, it sometimes helps to see the world through the eyes of the village idiot

[t_atzmueller · 10/10 · 26 January 2014]

It is difficult to review this movie without giving anything away – and giving away about this movie would be a crime. If you, dear reader, have an interest in "Train of Life" and haven't watched it yet, I can only recommend that you stop reading now (and start watching).

Shlomo, the village idiot of some small Jewish hamlet in Eastern-Europe has a vision of Germans appearing and deporting all the villagers. Under Shlomos guidance, the villager's decide to buy a ram shackled train, dress up as Nazis and rather deport themselves (needless to say, not to any concentration camp but rather to Palestine). On their way, they have to avoid many obstacles – like German soldiers, resistance fighters who want to blow up the train, the dressed up "guards" suffering from a form of Stamford-Prison-Experiment-syndrome, a communist revolt among the passengers and the question whether it's kosher to celebrate the Sabbath wearing German uniforms. Last but not least, a group of gypsies (whose village-idiot had a vision of Germans deporting the gypsies, who would rather deport themselves to Egypt by dressing up as Germans and stealing a train). And yes, there is a happy – of sorts.

Have to admit that I hesitated to watch "Train de Vie" for a while. Why? Well, I'm German and there are many moments in the life of a German where he/she is simply sick and tired of hearing, seeing or watching anything about Nazi-Germany, the holocaust, etc. Yes, the war has been over for some times, yes, the Fuehrer is dead (thank god) and yes, those bastards won't come back, at least not in our lifetime and not if my generation can help it.

A good friend convinced me to watch it, claiming that "Train de Vie" is by no means your average War-movie; in fact, it wasn't like any other movie I had watched before. So I heeded the advice, watched and, what can I say, it has been on my personal top-10-list of favorite movies ever since. To point out one highlight would be unfair; the film is full of highlights. However, my personal favorite line comes, when the "deportees" try to master the German language, being explained that German only copies Yiddish, albeit without the Yiddish humor (and whether the Germans are aware that their language is imitating Yiddish). This reminded me when I overheard a young skinhead chatting with his mate, complaining that there was "something not kosher about his shiksa (girlfriend)", who apparently went a little "meschuggah" at the time.

"Train de Vie" has often been compared to either "Life is Beautiful" or "Black Cat, White Cat". No problem with that since Begnini's film is one of the few who has dared to make a movie about the holocaust in a comedic context and Kustaricis gypsy-farce has a similar life-affirming yet almost chaotic spirit – but that is where the similarities end. Few films are capable of combining doom and gloom so well with a life-affirming spirit. The humor of "Train de Vie" is as warm as it is witty, and it is as witty as it is black. As if director Radu Mihaileanu had combined the French farces of the 1970's with the typical Jewish humor (if there is such a thing) a la Ephraim Kishon.

Last but not least, let me point out the excellent soundtrack by Goran Bregovic (who also composed the score for "Black Cat, White Cat". I love the soundtrack of "Black Cat, White Cat" but here Bregovic has outdone himself. Not an easy feat.

Remember: in the end, the entire story is true – as it happened through the eyes of the village idiot.

One of the rare cases when I give a film 10 from 10.

Bittersweet masterpiece

[Fast Eddie · 10/10 · 11 May 1999]

Great. Only this word can describe a masterpiece such as Train de vie... a fun yet respectful satyre of yiddish commonplaces, all with a plot that's nothing short of the deed of a genius. The grim ending is unavoidable for a matter of due respect to the "shoah" victims.

How to make a Holocaust film...

[jb-160 · 9/10 · 15 January 2001]

Mihaileanu was disappointed with both Spielberg's ("Schindler's List") and Benigni's ("La vita e bella/Life is Beautiful") portrayals of the Holocaust, although he does credit Spielberg for admitting that he thought that his effort was a failure.

The Holocaust poses a monstrous challenge to film makers - how can one make a film about the Holocaust without insulting the memory of those who perished?

Rather than attempting the arguably impossible task of realistically portraying the gloom and horror of the Holocaust, Mihaileanu uses humour with great effect. For example, viewers will be surprised at how amusing they find an orthodox Jew acting as a Nazi officer, complete with a tinge of Yiddish accent.

Despite the use of humour, Mihaileanu does not fail to import the gravity of the Holocaust. He achieves this through a delicate yet powerful mechanism that cannot only be experienced by seeing the film.

Occasionally the humour is a little trying - perhaps this is cultural, and it would have been more rewarding to see the film in the local language rather than French. Otherwise, the film is excellent.

JB

Avoid the film unless you like sentimentality

[av-ankur · 4/10 · 31 December 2013]

I had heard this film to be "better" than "Life Is Beautiful": I write the word better in scare quotes, because whether a film is better or worse is something subjective according to me, so it was very surprising to me the film marketed as a better humorous take on the Holocaust. I am afraid, in my opinion, not only it is a worse film, but it is also a film that reminded me of those mindless Hollywood musicals like "Carousel", etc. If you like that genre, you will like this film; if you fall for some exaggerated humour at Jew avarice, then you may fall for this one; if you like shapeless characters playing roles of bumpkins and dolts, then you may; otherwise, there is nothing here, least of all to even take its name in the same breath as the great Benigni film "Life Is Beautiful".

I would have forgiven the almost-universal bad acting and the long drawn-out scenes of this film had the film made me laugh, being supposed to be a comedy: however, the film failed to manage even a single laugh (!) during its whole course. And the same was the case with the audience packing the hall: around hundred people not even managing one single guffaw between them in this grindingly boring film. Avoid at all costs.

So its unrealistic. So what?

[george-102 · 25 February 2003]

It's amazing how many people seem to be complaining about the unrealism of this film. Given that anyone with two brain cells to rub together can see that the film is not trying to be realistic from scene 1 onwards, the question is not whether the film tried to be realistic and failed, but whether a film about the Holocaust must try to be realistic to be any good.

The trouble is that unless as part of the performance the entire audience is deported in cattle-trucks, slowly starved, and then gassed, it is rather difficult to see how any film can be realistic about the Holocaust. So, if there are to be movies about the Holocaust at all, or if they are to do much beyond telling us that the Holocaust was ghastly (we knew that, didn't we?)

they have to give up on trying to be realistic, and try to look at the Holocaust in an indirect way. This is where I think "Train de Vie" succeeds, for example by the deliberate parallels between the society inside the train, and the society that helped caused the Holocaust. I could list them at length, but if you've seen the movie and didn't notice them, you won't be convinced by anything I say, and if you haven't seen the movie, I'd rather leave you the pleasure of discovering them for yourself.

I never actually thought of the film's relation to "Life is Beautiful" until reading the IMDB comments, after I'd seen both films. Well it's very hard to compare the two films, but I don't think "Train de Vie" needs to be ashamed of the comparison. True, Roberto Benigni does not star in it, and that is a heavy handicap for any film. On the other hand I think I like the exuberant un-reality of "Train de Vie" better. After all the portrayal of the Holocaust in "Life is Beautiful" is just as unrealistic as that of "Train de Vie"; the only difference is that "Train de Vie" revels from the first scene

to the last in its unreality. If we must be unreal, let us at least enjoy it.

good movie

[Mickey Knox · 8/10 · 15 October 2002]

This is a surprisingly good movie. Great idea, great cast, sometimes very funny. There are some really unreal scenes or ideas, that made me think they were used just to move the plot forward, but the ending destroys every disappointment I have had during the film. Still, the acting could have been better. Vote: 7.5 out of 10.

favorable

[cindy-56 · 8/10 · 28 July 2000]

This is a very interesting movie, very well-acted and with a good and unique plot/story. It's hard these days to find a movie with an original idea, and this is one. It's funny, with serious ideas and overtones thrown in.