Primo Levi's tale of surviving the horrors of Auschwitz was memorialized in a book that, for many, is the key text of the Holocaust. In recounting his story in "If This Is a Man" (translated in the United States as "Survival in Auschwitz"), Levi became a spokesperson for an entire generation of Jews. After Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army in January 1945, it took Levi nearly a year to make it back to his home in Turin. As the war was still underway, Levi and six hundred other survivors
were put on a train and sent eastwards from the front. The long trip that ensued was a strange mixture of wonder, regeneration, confusion and boredom. At the same time, each person was coming to grips with the fact that they had survived. Here, Primo Levi's journey is retraced step by step.
Italian documentary filmmaker Davide Ferrario, who specializes in what he calls "on the road" documentaries, decided to retrace Primo Levi's steps in modern Europe. It was a wise choice.
The film lacks a certain coherence, and Levi -- one of Italy's most important postwar writers -- is mostly relegated to an excuse for a sociopolitical travelogue.
A profound meditation on the unevenness of history, reminding us -- as Faulkner once remarked -- that the past not only isn't dead, it isn't really past at all.
Primo Levi's Journey is almost willfully opaque about the actual circumstances of Primo Levi's journey. Who exactly was this man we're meant to be paying homage to, and why did it take him so long to get home?
If some of its connections remain obscure, its storytelling is both sinuous and resounding. History, memory, forgetfulness%u2014all comprise the present.
Travelogue is exquisitely shot and the dark poetry of Levi's words, read at intervals throughout the film, is brought to haunting life by a suitably weary-sounding Chris Cooper.
A thoughtful and insightful Italian documentary that retraces writer Primo Levi's 1945 trip from Poland to Italy after he was liberated from Auschwitz; it contains a fascinating glimpse of post-communist Europe.
Even when Ferrario's observation of a country's distinct political anxiety is interestingly tied to one of Levi's philosophical musings about the self and the world, the film still radiates the aloofness of a dry academic lecture.
Sensitive study of the journey taken by Primo Levi in the immediate aftermath of WWII. Mixes his own words with ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down by the end of the USSR and Eastern European socialism. Makes subtle political points t
Aside from being narrated with bits from Levi's writings, this doesn't really have a lot to do with him. It follows his European trek and lacks a sense of coherence. Occaisionally entertaining and always well-meaning, but still a miss.
No quotes approved yet for Primo Levi's Journey (La Strada di Levi). Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'Primo Levi's Journey (La Strada di Levi)'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
