Lore (2012) - Cate Shortland

After their father and mother, staunch Nazi believers, are taken into custody by the Allied forces at the end of World War II, five German children are left to fend for themselves.   Led by their eldest sibling, 14-year old Lore, the five children set out on a harrowing journey across the devastated German countryside in the hope of reaching their grandmother who lives up north.   Cate Shortland's Lore is a very powerful and unique coming of age story that pensively examines a young woman whose come to realize that everything she ever believed in was a lie.  While there are countless film about WWII, not many examine the German side, showing how these young children's lives are shattered at the end of the War.  The film does a fantastic job at putting the viewer into the psyche of young Lore, starting from the very opening scene.  The viewer is thrown into the film,  being clearly in Lore's POV, as we soon realize that Lore's father was an SS soldier and they are in hiding at the end of World World II.   Everything unfolds organically through the opening 20 minutes or so, with the film trusting that the viewer can pick up exactly what is going on much like Lore.  This is certainly a hard film to watch, with some vivid imagery throughout that pulls no punches when fixating on the death, misery and sorrow which has transpired.  There are quite a few sequences where the frame simply rests on a dead body or harrowing image which  not only effects the viewer on an emotional level but serves a purpose at capturing the type of inability to comprehend such imagery which a child like Lore could have.  Another aspect about the aesthetic which I loved was the juxtaposition of nature with death.  There are countless images throughout Lore which capture this magnificent beauty, yet everything going on in these character's lives is of death and despair.  It's a really interesting creative decision which seems to almost be a subtle reminder that mankind created such sorrow.  Throughout this hellish track the film showcases how manipulated the german people were to Hitler's final solution, and the film never pity's them nor demonizes them.  That is what seperates Lore apart from many similar films, its ability to go beyond the blame and find the humanity of it all.  Lore's story is a tragic but almost uplifting one in that she has learned that everything she ever knew was an horrendous lie but because of this horrible experience she won't grow up with the hatred which her elders had for anyone different.   
8.5/10

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