Left Luggage (1998)
While escaping from Nazis during the WWII, a Jewish man dug suitcases full of things dear to his heart in the ground two. The war deprived him of his family, and afterwards he endlessly turns over the soil of Antwerp to find the suitcases, which makes him look obsessed. He keeps checking old maps and keeps digging, trying to find, in fact, those he lost. His daughter Chaya is a beautiful modern girl looking for a part-time job. She finds a place as a nanny in the strictly observant Chassidic family with many children, although her secular manners clearly fly in the face of many commandments. One of the reasons she is accepted is that mother of the family is absolutely overburdened by the household, so she stays despite the resistance of the father, normally - an indisputable authority in the family. She develops a special bond with the youngest of the boys, four-year old Simcha, so far incapable of speaking.
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I love this movie so much
Am i the only one who thinks........Average?
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
I initially balked at watching this movie. However, after being persuaded to do so I was happily surprised.Laura Fraser has done an excellent job in portraying a young woman who is a bridge between cultures.Isabella Rossellini also does an good job as the mother.All in all, a very good movie, and a nice surprise.
This film has a most unusual setting, the Chassidic community of Antwerp, Belgium. The protagonist is a young Jewish (but non-observant) woman, who gets a job taking care of the children of a Chassidic family, and has a humanising effect on all, of them, including the imposing and forbidding father, albeit with an unfortunate side effect. The film's title refers to a sub-plot, in which the protagonist's father digs holes in various spots around Antwerp, seeking for some trunks of personal effects he buried while fleeing from the Nazis.After the film was over, I realized a few flaws in the plot (Unlike one of your other reviewers, I did not find the nude swimming scene unpleasant at all. It serves nicely to contrast the protagonist's lack of inhibition with the sexual prudery of the Chassidim.). For one thing, the concierge of the building in which the Chassidic family lives is an anti-Semite, who constantly harasses the family. He denies them access to the elevator, blocks the stairs and even injures one of the children. Yet nobody thinks of complaining the the building's owner about him.Also, the name of the protagonist is Chaya. Yet it never occurs to her best friend, until it comes up in conversation, that she might be Jewish.
I cannot add anymore than the mostly marvelous reviews from the contributors overseas. The cast was wonderful and Isabella Rossellini's resemblance to her mother, Ingrid Bergman is startling. Even their voices have a similarity. I am most disturbed that the picture,at this, time has such a limited distribution in the U.S.
Since I live in Israel, I've seen many films about the Hassidic community, but I've never seen a film that combines two of the heaviest subjects in Israeli society. The connection between the two main woman characters (Chaya and Mrs. Kalman), the connection in silence between Chaya and Mr. Kalman, and most important, the connection between Chaya and Simcha, which was nipped in the bud, we're all magnificently described. It also introduces the viewer to the closed worlds of both the Hassidics and the Holocaust Survivors. Excellent, touching and interesting.