Treasure

First 10/10.

It started slow and it was partially unclear where it was heading, but that is the entire point for the two characters on the daughter-father trip into a dark past the daughter was aware of from books but not her parents reality.

The actors, the entire cast, work well together and you rarely see that with a otherwise low budget simple film especially with a mix of nationalities.

The relationship between the father and daughter and the trauma being opened is quite heartfelt. Both play the roles magnificently.

One note, in the visit to Auschwitz, I was stunned at the size and depth conveyed in the film. Very few films do the massive size of the horror justice. Most films make it look small, very black and white and black. However, the size is very visible in the color shots here. it is heartbreaking to believe anyone would conceive of such a nightmare to build. This film really does a great job at showing the massive size of that nightmare. May we never repeat such a horror.

I'm so glad I stumbled upon this film even though it's not that well known. The relationship between the characters is very well built, and they are really endearing. Plus the locations and the period hit close to home.

Like mixing your gravy, candied yams and mashed potatoes on your plate: sure it all gets mixed together in your stomach anyway, but that doesn't mean it's appetizing to see.

I happened to see Treasure on Father's Day (not knowing what it was about) and that turned about to be one of my most serendipitous blind watches in recent memory.

My (adult) kids still live in Paris, and when I lived there we'd all three go out to a bistro for Father's Day lunch. Now that I live in the States, they called, of course, but that didn't stop me from missing our yearly outing. Or missing them. So, this movie of a daughter road tripping with her dad in Poland really hit me in my feels.

What's more, my kids are technically Jewish (my ex is Jewish and Judaism is matrilineal, i.e., passed through the mother) and while no one in the immediate family practices religion, being reminded of the atrocities once committed upon people exactly like my kids hit me in my feels, as well.

What I had to come to terms within the film, however, were the multiple themes of father/daughter relations, the Holocaust, Judaism, reparations... It all got a bit crowded.

Fortunately, Lena Dunham's performance held the film together. Stephen Fry will always be Stephen Fry playing a character, but Lena Dunham helped me forget I was watching a movie long enough for the movie to get under my skin, work its way to my heart, and eventually fall in little beads from the corner of my eye.

Disappointingly slight drama that fails to convey a lot of insight into trauma.