Fugitive Pieces - Dvd

Fugitive Pieces - Dvd (2007)

This dvd drama, was based on an earlier book, one I had attempted to read several times but could never get into. So all of my opinions have to be based on the dvd alone.

Jakob Beer is just a child in 1942, when the Germans invade his home in Poland. His father is shot in front of his hiding spot, and he hears his mother and beloved sister Bella being taken away. Eventually he leaves his hiding spot, runs into the forest and buries himself, knowing that he will die outside. Found by a Greek archaeologist, Jakob is taken to Greece, but still haunted by the memories of his families, and stressed by the Germans who are also in Greece, he hides in the house never venturing outside.

Athos and Jakob then emigrate to Canada, to start a new life where we get to meet their neighbours and the new people entering their lives. Jakob becomes a writer, and meeting a new crowd he marries Alex, a vibrant young woman who tries to get him to forget his past and live in the present. Still haunted by his memories, he retreats to Greece to write and finds himself with a new future.

I wasn't sure when I watched this one if I enjoyed it, but thinking about it and writing it I realise it was a complex and beautiful story, one that maybe is a bit restricted by the limits of time. I have to give it a 3/5, for its beauty and the sensitivity of the main character Jakob.