ATLANTIC DRIFT
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Moving documentary of the fate of about
1900 Jewish refugees from Europe at the time of
the Holocaust. The film is particularly damning
of British policy at a time from which we usually
remember only Nazi anti-Semitism. Rating: 8 (0
to 10), high +2 (-4 to +4)
ATLANTIC DRIFT is a documentary covering the lives of 1880 fugitives from Hitler's tyranny in Europe who fell into tyrannical British hands instead. This film documents the struggle of a group who tried to escape to Palestine in four rickety boats, all that they could afford. The voyage would be dangerous, but not as dangerous as staying.
We see this journey through the eyes of Shlomo Haendel whose parents were on this voyage and whose father committed suicide before he was born. Shlomo knows of the journey mostly though drawings and sketches his father made during the journey.
In 1940, hundreds of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism collected in Bratislava hired four boats to take them to Palestine. Loaded absolutely to capacity, the four vessels began an odyssey that would take five years to complete. This documentary covers the journey of these four boatloads of people. The British wanted to keep the Jews out of Palestine and gave orders that at each port the boats should be delayed by being entangled in administrative procedures.
The documentary covers eyewitness accounts of just how over- crowded the boats were and struggles to get fuel. Eventually all wood on board had to be cannibalized to feed the boilers.
Finally the boats get to Haifa in time to see the refugee ship Patria, already in Haifa, sink and to see the British prevent anyone from saving the Patria passengers. The Bratislava Jews find themselves interned behind British barbed wire in Haifa, then shipped out to Mauritius where they are interned for five years more of illness and harsh treatment. One fault in the film is that it is not clear how unpleasant the years on Mauritius were, which was discussed in the question-and-answer period afterwards at the Toronto premiere. The film unintentionally makes it look almost like a pleasant tropical island.
Shlomo sees the places his father sketched and talks to survivors of the period. ATLANTIC DRIFT is a harrowing account of the rigors Jewish refugees suffered escaping the death camps of Europe. I rate it an 8 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Copyright 2002 Mark R. Leeper
========== X-RAMR-ID: 33003 X-Language: en X-RT-AuthorID: 1309 X-RT-RatingText: 8/10
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