There are some great aspects to this film. The scenes of childhood & the actors in the midst of WW2 are well depicted. Safe relatively in England, far safer than Poland.
The time shifting sequences flipping from one era to another made things stilted & confusing & annoying more than interesting.
Excellent sets in Poland esp Treblinka & in Hampstead where the main character encounters a survivor of Treblinka & then learns about his own family.
Worth watching but this film could have been outstanding.
Exploring the aspect of the holocaust on those who had managed to leave or not but survive makes a great basis for exploring humanity & the challenges of going on after loss.
The story meanders a lot which gets in the way of building a sense of connection to the adults; the earlier scenes when the key characters are still boys manages to build that connection.
The Song of Names
2019
Action / Drama / Music / Mystery / War
The Song of Names
2019
Action / Drama / Music / Mystery / War
Keywords: holocaust (shoah)childhoodviolinpolish
Plot summary
Dovidl Rapoport and Martin Simmonds grew up as best friends, each considering the other like a brother. Their close relationship was despite their rocky start upon their initial meeting at age nine, when Dovidl's father, Zygmunt Rapoport, of Jewish faith from Warsaw, brought Dovidl, a violin prodigy, to London both to continue his violin tutelage and to get him out of Poland in 1939, with Martin's parents, Gilbert and Enid Simmonds, they an upper class musical family, taking Dovidl in as Zygmunt returned to Warsaw to rejoin the rest of his family. That rocky start was due to Gilbert giving Dovidl seemingly favored status as a guest in their house, as Gilbert vowed to Zygmunt that they would maintain Dovidl's Jewish faith (despite Dovidl growing further and further away from that aspect of his life as he grew into his late teen and early adult years),and in Dovidl's musical gifts far outstripping Martin's, he a talented enough pianist in his own right. That friendship hit an abrupt end of sorts when Dovidl failed to show up for his first major featured concert in London in 1951, he seemingly disappearing into thin air on his own volition. Dovidl's failure to perform that evening led to financial ruin for the Simmonds, with Gilbert passing of a heart attack a few months later arguably a further result. It's now 1986, and Martin, prominently working in the music business in London, has searched for Dovidl over all these years partly in wanting to deal with what he considers unfinished business, and as he believes that Dovidl may not have had someone to look out for him as he would have. Martin comes into evidence of Dovidl's recent whereabouts. Two parallel stories are then told, the first Martin and Dovidl's time together from 1939 to 1951 which may provide some clues as to why Dovidl left, and the second as Martin follows the leads to locate his "brother".
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
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Had potential to be excellent
Survivor's guilt
Dov is an arrogant child prodigy, violin player, from a Polish Jewish family. His father decides to take him to London, to study and there he leaves Dov, boarding with an English family, just at the eve of WWII. You can already see how this is heading south and it does, but at snail's pace.
During the Blitz, Dov starts an uneasy friendship with Martin, the English family son, and they became best buddies. At the end of the war and after a useless search, it is feared - but not confirmed - that Dov's family ended up in Treblinka.
Dov is now a sullen, nasty and mean youngster, but still a hell of a violin player. Angry at everybody he renounces the Jewish religion and embarks on a self-destructive course until the eve of his first solo concert. Then he disappears, ruining his adoptive family. The bulk of the plot is Martin's search for Dov, 35 years later.
The film is edited with three interspersed timelines and it does not make for an easy viewing.
Even considering his suffering, Dov is a most unpleasant, selfish, destructive character who does not elicit much sympathy. Martin is supposed to be the best person, but he's merely a plot device, to enhance Dov's uniqueness.
The end is annoyingly predictable, if anything enhancing once more what a prima donna, unlovable, egotistic character Dov is.
Selfishness & Atonement
At some point selfishness manifests itself individually, or as family, or as some higher level grouping. All offshoots of survival of the individual. Selfishness can be tempered either with reasoning (perhaps w/teachings),or simply with time. Violinist prodigy Dovidl makes a mistake (actually more than one) that has severe consequences. Like we all with our mistakes does he (or can he really) atone as in this look back, "I no longer thought of myself as an individual ... I chose to submerge myself within a community of faith ... a body sharing common values, history, memory. The surrender of self." So, upon atoned completion of his concert, "...were all debts paid?" Kudos to composer Howard Shore, and violinist Ray Chen.