Treasure

After the loss of her mother, Ruth decides to make a pilgrimage to Poland and learn about her parents' past. Her father, Edek, decides to join her and make it a daughter-father's trip. As Ruth and Edek travel through Poland, they learn and relive the Jewish people's history and experience how things are in the present. As they travel together, Edek and Ruth learn more about each other, share their burdens, and grow closer.

This film is based on the true story of the child of two Auschwitz death camp survivors and her journey to learn about her family. The story is approached delicately. While the subject is heavy, the story is told simultaneously in a manner that is both serious and lighthearted. The story develops slowly, making the audience feel the nearly two-hour runtime. This film has multiple themes the audience can focus on, and by the end, it is a very gratifying watch. This is a decent watch once it is available to stream.

The story is foremost, the acting is genuine. The story is presented in a respectful manner, it's hard to convey such a repugnant time in history.

They got it right, there are many ways to get it wrong or to be offensive. Heartfelt yet direct. I'll not influence the story line. A must watch production those that can identify with the story line and subject will without doubt be moved. Sadly due to the polarization in the world today, the subject matter could create conflict. My hopes are that everyone will feel the humanity and come away with positivity and respect for the experiences presented.

Treasure follows Ruth, the daughter of two Polish/Jewish Holocaust survivors, who journeys to Poland in 1991 to see places important to her family's story. Ruth's father, Edek, only accompanies her because he doesn't believe a women should travel alone. The best, most poignant scenes are a visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where Edek and his late wife were imprisoned, and a scene where a family treasure is found.

The rest of the movie is tedious, with many father/daughter disputes, including a very awkward argument in front of three people they only met a few days before. The lack of tolerance between Ruth and Edek is painful to watch. Although Ruth wants to find her Polish roots, she seems disdainful of the Polish people and culture, even the food.

The movie is inaccurately billed as a comedy/drama. I didn't expect much comedy, and most attempts at humor fell flat. The few touching moments are overwhelmed by exaggerated father/daughter conflict.

It's really refreshing to me seeing a movie that's just sincere. Nothing stylized or saccharine, just really powerful dialogue and story unfolding naturally while working on so many levels. It feels like this movie exists in the real world. I'm usually skeptical about fiction that incorporates the holocaust because sometimes it's used as an unnecessary gimmick, but every element about this story is vitally important. The conversations about processing generational trauma are breath-taking. The two lead actors, Lena and Stephen, really made me empathize with their characters and they both deserve Oscar nominations. Also, this is based on a true story and I love when movies based on true stories show photos of the real-life people during the credits.

American journalist "Ruth" (Lena Dunham) had long planned a trip from the USA to her ancestral home in Poland only to find her effervescent father "Edek" (Stephen Fry) has decided to join her. A fluent speaker and full of a slightly annoying joie de vivre, they embark on a trip to the tourist sites, but that's not what she wants. She wants to head to the family home in Lodz where they were a successful industrial family before the Nazi's confiscated their wealth, property and sent "Edek" and his wife to Auschwitz. What is clear is that dad is not so keen on this itinerary, nor is he at all keen on train travel - and the remainder of the film takes us on a family journey that will open the eyes of the daughter whilst bringing back the demons for the father. This tries quite effectively at times to introduce some humour into what is quite an emotional topic, especially when their trip does eventually take them (and us) to his haunting place of incarceration where he finds a flood of memories readily come back to him. Fry over-eggs the accent a bit, but he does manage to convey something of the harrowing nature of his incarceration, and of his mind's determination to protect itself from opening that door to trauma again. Dunham also serves well enough as his independently-minded daughter to support that increasingly troubled characterisation. It's quite a poignant drama that encourages us, as D-Day 80 is still fresh in the mind - to imagine the horrors visited on the Polish people by the Nazis and to realise that in many cases (this is set in 1991) their houses and businesses were still pretty much as they were left in 1941 - only largely dilapidated and with new, poverty-stricken occupants. I did rather like the conclusion - it poses quite an interesting question about what we might do in her place. As a drama, it maybe doesn't need the cinema, but the photography at the now silenced death camp is still blood-curdling.