Although it follows in the footsteps of Italian author Primo Levi's journey back home to Turin after the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army in 1945—described in his 1963 book The Reawakening, excerpts of which are read here by narrator Chris Cooper—Levi's memoir is essentially just a springboard for filmmaker Davide Farrario's tour of post-communist Eastern Europe. The idea that connects Farrario's and Levi's respective odysseys is that in both cases the continent was undergoing large sociopolitical changes, but from a structural standpoint the conceit is more intriguing than successful, as the two aspects never fully converge (and the passages from Levi's book wind up feeling curiously intrusive). Farrario's travels through early 21st-century Eastern Europe, however, turn out to be quite revealing. The director has a fine eye for framing paradoxical material, such as during a segment set in Poland, in which he juxtaposes old communist propaganda about the construction of a huge industrial city with a contemporary visit to the largely deserted site. And one can't help but be moved by footage of Chernobyl and impoverished Moldavia, or appalled by shots of neo-Nazis in Germany. Despite conceptual problems, Primo Levi's Journey makes a strong impression as a portrait of the halting economic and political transformation of today's Eastern Europe. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)
Primo Levi's Journey
(2007) 92 min. DVD or VHS: $99.95: public libraries; $350: colleges & universities. The Cinema Guild. PPR. ISBN: 0-7815-1238-7 (dvd). Volume 23, Issue 2
Primo Levi's Journey
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