A passionate and emotional film dealing with German journalist Ludwig get in trouble, he has written too sincerely for the Nazi regime and realizes that he must be prepared to flee. He takes his son Rolf and his inseparable dog Adi (inexplicably named after Adolf Hitler) to head to the United States, passing through France and Spain. It stars Julius Weckauf, who plays Rolf, a twelve-year-old boy who in 1940 wants to flee the Nazis from France to Portugal with his father (Volker Bruch), a dissident journalist, to take a ship to America. Rolf's mother (Anna Maria Mühe) is waiting for them there. Ordered to leave his dog, Rolf (Julius Weckauf) prefers to hide it in his bag. At first it seems like a not too difficult path, but then the journey becomes bumpy and ends abruptly. In a hard cut, the Nazis appear with consequent turmoil, confusion and danger. The journey becomes increasingly dangerous and exhausting, forcing them to depend on an anti-Franco resistance network. Even though junior guide Nuria (Nonna Cardoner) bribes a police patrol, the barking stray dog attracts the attention of the Germans, so Ludwig delivers the essentials to his son before saving the children to the get trapped alone. Rolf teaches Nuria the power of fiction and helps her free her parents, eventually arriving at Liberty Station.
Family films certainly have the task of preparing serious and stressful themes in such a way that children and young people do not suffer any psychological damage, but this "Road to Freedom" (2022) sometimes almost feels like a crazy comedy for children. However, the threat and seriousness of a situation can still be conveyed, something that is done even in children's series. Lead actor Julius Weckauf makes a decisive contribution to the feel-good factor suitable for the mainstream. The child actor resorts to very childish interpretive means that fit him like a glove. With his fatness, precocious charm, sympathy, and stubborn daydreaming, the 14-year-old achieves a comedic screen presence that shines even brighter in contrast to the harsh realism of the little girl played by Nonna Cardoner. And his father is played by Volker Bruch, apparently a well-known German actor and protagonist of the successful series "Babylon Berlin" by Tom Tykwer. While Bruna Cusí, protagonist of ¨Upon entry¨ is a leader Maquis, Esther, who helps them achieve the desired freedom.
Resulting to be a sensitive and adventure film about two children who flee through France, the Pyrenees and Spain. Unlike the book, the smuggler who crosses the Pyrenees is a girl, not a shepherd boy. Of course, such a delicate and childish approach to the sexes is always nice to see, but even here there are exaggerations in some scenes, such as when Rolf carries a gun without knowing anything about it, threatening and shooting the kidnappers of the parents of the girl, or for example, when he once drags Núria to the lake to have fun - which gives the whole thing a kind of country holiday atmosphere, however we are dealing with much more serious things.
Jokes, fantasies, diversion, and funny sayings among children are followed by drama, pursuit, or danger, and vice versa, changing rapidly and in constant succession. This allows screenwriter Rüdiger Bertram to tell two stories in one in his fictional adaptation of Lisa Fittko's memoirs: 'My Way Over the Pyrenees'. On the one hand, the adventure story typical of children's cinema, animated by the fun and loving father, who embellishes the hardships of the expulsion of his son with a slight style. On the other hand, the film adequately reflects the universal destiny of all displaced people at all times and in all places, showing it in a concrete tough experience. The Pyrenees route designed by Lisa Fittko helped several persecuted people escape in 1940, who were also persecuted by the Nazis during the collaborationist Vichy regime. The most famous was the philosopher and writer Walter Benjamín, who arrived in Spain but was not allowed to enter due to lack of valid documents and died in the border town of Portbou. Even today, the road referred to in the film is called "Chemin Walter Benjamin." This theme about the passage of the Pyrenees with people fleeing and relentlessly pursued, has already been treated in other films such as ¨The Passage¨ by J. Lee Thompson with Anthony Quinn as the well-known shepherd-guide and ¨Behold a Pale Horse¨ by Fred Zinnemann with Gregory Peck.
The motion picture was professionally directed by Tobias Wiemann (Amelie Rennt) who has adapted Rüdiger Bertram's novel 'The Road - The Story of an Escape to Freedom' to film with some variations. The author also collaborated on the script together with Jytte-Merle Böhrnsen, the director's wife. A material that will probably interest both adults due to its action details with unfortunate people harassed by the Nazis, and children, following the adventures of two little ones and a friendly dog.
