By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Davide Ferrario
Original language title: La Strada di Levi
Country: italy
Year: 2007
Running time: 92
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0841173/
Bruce says: “In January, Primo Levi was released from Auchowitz where he had been incarcerated since February 1944. His journey home to Turin, Italy, took him almost a year. He and other freed Italian prisoners travelled through Poland, the Ukaraine, Belarus, Russia, Hungary, Germany, Austria and Romania. His travels are well documented in his book, The Truce.
“For some inexplicable reason filmmaker Davide Ferrario decided retracing Levi’s steps would make a good documentary subject. So the filmmaker goes from country to country filming odd sights. Some attempts are made to connect with the people on the streets but serendipity is what guides those forays; they are not part of a plan. The big problem with this film is that most of what we see is not all that interesting. Many of the filmmaker’s stops are in areas that have not advanced much from the time of Levi’s journey. Both Belarus and the Ukraine seem absolutely primitive by Western standards. In Belarus a collective farm is left over from Soviet days. Chernobyl is the main attraction in the Ukraine (and I have seen better footage on that subject in other films). In Romania we get to see truck stops, erotic dancers and bars. If any of the stopovers were treated to an in depth examination, several nice
documentaries might emerge. As it is, the passing through approach is pointless.
“On the good side, visiting Ronald Regan Square in Krakow brought back wonderful memories of Andrzej Wajda’s MAN OF MARBLE. The most interesting aspect of this film is the occasional voiceover reciting some of Primo Levi’s writing. The film made me want to read Levi’s work and for that I am thankful. 2.5 cats”