Those Who Remained

Pretty unremarkable movie. Everything is so plain, the story is so simple and pointless, characters boring... They made more beautiful movies in Grujoland before Grujo went there (Son of Saul, On Body and Soul...). :D

I found this to be a superb movie, in content, script, acting, music, so many ways. Most of all it simply grabbed me by the heart.

The two main characters Klara and Aldo are the only surviving members of their respective families not long after WW II and living in Hungary. Where the communists had taken over.

She is 16 and very out of sorts which is understandable. She has no one and thinks she might be somehow reunited with her parents. He is 45 and alone as his wife and two sons didn't survive and he somehow survived a concentration camp alone.

Some may say the story is unrealistic, but to me that really didn't matter. With so many movies about love lost due to war, it is heartwarming to see a movie about two lost souls finding comfort with each other, albeit in an awkward situation. Maybe that couldn't have happened at that place and that time, but it doesn't matter as this is a movie and everything felt very real to me.

Any shortcomings pointed out by others can be overcome with the superb acting of the main characters as played by Abigel Szoke and Karoly Hajduk. I could especially relate to her portayal of Klara as she would cling to him, having been left with an aunt and feeling lost and forgotten.

It was in no way easy for them to regain any kind of love in their life after they had lost their entire families. But how nice to watch a film about new kinds of love forming slowly over time, even if in a difficult post-war country to be in.

Deeply touched me. I cant sleep this night. This man and young women were so good, maybe the best acting in hungarian movie ever. The story is very sad, but full with real emotions, real life.

This is a story of two survivors of the Holocaust: a middle aged doctor, Aladar, and a 16-year-old girl, Klara, who were total strangers to each other. While losing their loved ones and still suffering, they meet and start a father-daughter like relationship which some see as peculiar. But this relationship soon becomes special, and eventually heals their scars within. Although this movie is about people's recovery from the traumatic experiences of war, I saw it as a platonic love story of two lost souls. Sadness is always in Aladar's eyes and Klara often wakes up screaming from a nightmare. The inner scars of the two are so deep that they can't even express their grief properly. So seeing them cuddling close together, gradually restoring their lives was heart-warming to see. A very subtle yet very moving film.

Just back from seeing this extraordinary movie at the Wilmette Theater: 'Those Who Remained'.

Set in 1948 Budapest. Everyone still stunned by the war and its aftermath.

A kind doctor befriends a 14 year old girl. Both camp survivors. They are those who were left at war's end. They are surrounded by ghosts. The little girl refuses to accept death. They aren't 'were' they 'are'. Lives that go on with holes as large as elephants. Black holes that suck all of life down into nothingness. Except for the human spirit in everyone. That life smashed, mutilated, damaged, despairing goes on. Love can be felt and to be loved regained. So powerful, so honest and true.

Makes you think...how did those who lived...live?

Brilliant cast. Everyone a living individual. The doctor slowly comes into the light. The girl, angry, furious, refusing to accept what happened to her...saved by human touch. Saved by experiencing, well, fun.

Sad beyond belief in parts, but wonderful in most others.