Remembrance of Love

Chana Eden was a wonderful choice for Leah. Pam Dawber was an awful choice as the daughter. Robert Clary, playing himself and as I know an actual Holocaust survivor, just an obvious choice to be politically correct but an awful actor. Kirk Douglas acts with his eyes, and without words he conveys volumes. Worth the investment in time and money to own this video. This film is gorgeous and if you've been to Israel, you want to catch this gem. There are many messages quite poignant. I like this film and Kirk Douglas, as always, brings it all to the table. Again Pam Dawber couldn't have been a more awful casting as the daughter. YIKES. I loved a cute scene when Kirk Douglas dances in celebration of the birth of his grandson. He has it all, does it all, when he is on screen I am most happy.

Good idea, lukewarmly executed. I enthusiastically agree with the previous reviewer on one important point; if I were to identify THE one single thing that was most wrong with this film, it would be the casting of Pam Dawber as the daughter. She was just terrible. But, from there on we'll need to agree to disagree. I wasn't that pleased with the casting of Kirk Douglas, although his performance was very solid... he just didn't say "Jewish man" to me. For my money, the best and most natural (how could he miss?) performance in the film was Robert Clary's. For me he just lit up the screen in the upbeat scenes, and he made me feel his pain in the somber scenes of remembrance. Some of the plot twists were a bit contrived and a little too "easy", but hey... this was a TV movie, right? Nothing phenomenal here in the way of filmmaking, but some nice scenes of Israel, and well worth the viewing for Robert Clary fans who would like to see him do something a little deeper for a change.

Joe Rabin is a German death camp survivor who has never really talked about his experiences during the war. So, it's surprising that he's agreed to go to Israel for a get together for survivors. At first, he's very emotionally constrained and seems out of place. But when he researches there for a long lost and presumably dead lover, he's shocked to learn she's still alive...and how each of them deal with it as well as the reaction of Joe's daughter is what follows.

While I loved this made for TV movie and recommend it strongly, one aspect didn't ring true...and that's the reaction of Joe's daughter (Pam Dauber). It seemed odd and unrealistic at times. It's a shame, as otherwise it's a near perfect film and a heartrending look at the survivors...survivors who were cut off from friends and families and had to pick up and start in another part of the world. Well worth seeing....and incredibly poignant.

In Remembrance of Love, Kirk Douglas and his daughter Pam Dawber travel to Israel for a reunion of Holocaust survivors. She's a journalist and interested in learning everyone's stories, but he's very closed-lipped about his experiences. Turns out, he fell in love before the war, and he's hoping to find his sweetheart at the reunion.

As you might be able to tell from the title, this movie is all about romance. Pam falls for Yoram Gal, and Kirk's romance with Chana Eden is two-fold, told in the present and through flashbacks of the past. The cutest parts of the movie are the flashbacks, since Kirk's son Eric Douglas plays his younger self! Eric and Irit Frank are really cute together, which is necessary for the audience to care and root for them when they grow older.

If you like these types of movies, or books like The Lost Wife, you might want to give this a watch. It was just a little too "tv movie" for my taste, even though it had good intentions. It completely fits in with every stereotype of a television movie from the 1980s, but depending on your style, that will make you seek or avoid it.

The Jewish widower Joe Rabin (Kirk Douglas) travels with his daughter Marcy Rabin (Pam Dawber) from America to Israel for a reunion of Holocaust survivors. Marcy is a journalist and will cover the encounter and her father has a secret reason for the trip: he wants to find the whereabouts of his girlfriend Leah, who was pregnant during the war. He succeeds in his research but Leah (Chana Eden) is a married woman. When her husband travels to another city for a couple of days, they rekindle their love and Joe learns the fate of their baby. Meanwhile Marcy falls in love with the Jewish chief of security David (Yoram Gal). "Remembrance of Love" is a melodramatic soap opera and propaganda of the Holocaust. The romances of Joe Rabin and Leah, and Marcy and David, have no chemistry and are not dramatic. The guy moves to America and only when his wife dies, he misses his former girlfriend and remember to look for her and their baby. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Lembranças de Um Amor" ("Remembrance of a Love")