To understand what war is, you must sometimes “see” it through the eyes of a child. This is the message that Ukrainian director Eva Neymann sets out to convey in her film titled “House with a Turret”.
Adapted from the autobiography of Russian author Friedrich Gorenstein, the film follows the story of an eight- year- old boy during the Second World War in Russia. After the death of his father, he boards a packed train with his mother, with the goal of joining his grandfather in his house with a turret. The trip comes to a halt for the young woman when her sickness worsens and she is forced to disembark the train to go to the hospital. She dies of typhus and the little boy must face his situation alone.
This film is a must see. In fact, the story that the filmmaking team tells is unprecedented. There is no judgment, no political or historical discourse, only misery in people’s looks and the determination to survive on people’s faces. The black and white contrast offsets the pessimistic obscurity with a sliver of hope. In the end, this house with a turret becomes a utopia you can believe in, a veritable paradise. All throughout the film, we notice several kind characters through the eyes of an eight year old child, but what really strikes us is that the war has taken something vital from people, sensitivity towards the suffering of others.
This full-length feature film has been awarded several prizes (The East of the West Prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, The Jury Prize at the Batumi Film Festival, and the Grand Prix at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in 2012), no doubt thanks to a combination of this ingenious mix and the innocence of the suffering young actor which touched the jury so much.
This film is scheduled to come out in France on November 20th, International Children’s Day. This would be a good occasion to reflect on the protection of rights that are violated in many countries, especially during contemporary conflicts.
