THE LAST SUIT/EL ULTIMO TRAJE

Argentina, 2017, 98 minutes, Colour.
Miguel Angel Sola, Angela Molina, Martin Piroyanski, Natalia Verbeke, Julia Beerhold, Olga Boadz, Jan Mayzel.
Directed by Pablo Solarz.

This is a very fine film, a film that makes life worthwhile for a film reviewer. It can be well recommended.

The basic setting for the film is Argentina, opening with a joyous celebration of the Jewish community, music, dance, a reminder of the old traditions. However, the keeper of the traditions in this film is an 88-year-old patriarch of the family, significantly called Abraham, who is terminally ill, has a leg which strictly needs amputation, who is being sent by his daughters and their families to a retirement home. On the surface, he seems to accept this, but… He is played persuasively by Miguel Angel Sola.

In the middle of the film, when he reluctantly seeks out his youngest daughter in Madrid after he has been robbed, having previously refused to apologise for his disinheriting her in favour of her two sisters, there is a strong reference to the plot of King Lear. The daughters in Argentina who are sending their father to the retirement home have professed their love for him while the youngest daughter, Claudia, accuse them of hypocrisy. (There is an explicit reference to Shakespeare and King Lear in the final credits.)

The film is also a Holocaust memorial film. Abraham lost his family in the camps ini Poland, was able to escape with the help of a friend. He had been able to migrate to Argentina but had let contact with his friend lapse. As he faces his death, he decides to return to Poland and the bulk of the film shows his journey.

He is a resourceful old man, relying on a literally underground agency to get his ticket to Europe. He imposes himself on a quiet young man on the plane – who later does ask Abraham’s help and offers to drive him in Madrid. Before he gets his train to Poland, Abraham goes to an old hotel, encounters Maria who runs the place, who takes him to a club where she sings after he misses his train and they reminisce about the past.

There are various episodes, all interesting and entertaining, as Abraham pursues his travels, getting tangled with language in Paris, being helped by a young woman archaeologist who is able to speak Yiddish – who then has to bear the brunt of Abraham’s hostility towards Germans, not wanting to set foot on German soil as he makes his way from France to Poland. As with his daughter, so with this young woman, Abraham has to learn to let go of some of his angers and hostility and appreciate the kindness of others.

There is also great kindness in Poland, especially from the nurse in the hospital where he is taken after collapsing on the train (aggravated by his memories of the past, seen in flashbacks, his injuries after the war, his seeking help from his friend, but a cruel sequence of memories where he is mocked by decadent German soldiers and their women).

There is great emotion at the end of the film, great hope in a film which acknowledges human weakness but also invests in human resilience, forgiveness and reconciliation.

1. A moving and humane film?

2. The title, symbolic for Abraham and his friendship and loyalty?

3. Universal story, but specifically Jewish, Polish background, World War II, the concentration camps, the experience of the Holocaust, survival, migration to Latin America?

4. The exhilaration of the opening, the Jewish people, the singing, the dancing, the mood, celebration?

5. Abraham story, the symbolism of his name? His age, late 80s, his health, his bad leg, the initial photograph, the granddaughter not wanting to be part of it, her mercenary attitude, the bargaining, the bribe? His losing his home, giving the rights to his daughter’s and their families? Not his house? The presence of the maid, her comment about the situation to Abraham?

6. The prospect of going to the nursing home? His decision to leave, the taxi, the driver disrespecting him by calling him grandpa, his visit to the underground agency, getting the ticket? Immediately going to the station? On the plane, wanting conversation with Leo, Leo and his reluctance, the music magazine, conversation about musicians, Leo moving?

7. Madrid, the authorities, the interrogation, his not having a return ticket, his money? Leo and his asking assistance? Abraham helping? Going to the hotel? Settling in?

8. Maria, at the hotel, tough, the issue of the room, Abraham sleeping, missing his train? Maria taking into the club, her singing? Their talking, the stories? The return, the open window, his having been robbed? His reliance on Leo for driving him? Going to his daughter, the past story of the daughters and the declaration of love, Claudia refusing, criticising her sisters, Abraham cutting her off, her going to Madrid? His reluctance to visit her, finally ringing the bell, the conversation, seeing his granddaughter, Claudia giving him the money?

9. The revelation of the King Lear connection, old man, his unwise decisions, the response of his daughters? And the possibility of looking at the other connections with King Lear, Maria, Leo, the German woman on the train – as guides, companions in films?

10. On the train, going to Paris, the taxi, going to the second station, the language difficulties? Ingrid helping, yet his bitterness, her speaking you to Yiddish and his reactions? His rejection of Ingrid, not wanting to go through Germany and tread on German soil? The meeting on the train, her story, research, learning Yiddish? Comforting Abraham? The class and his not treading on German soil? At the station, her apology to him for the treatment during the war? His relating?

11. The flashbacks throughout his journey, to the end of the war, his going to the house, his suffering, being helped by Peter, the father and his fear that the house would be taken over? Peter and his comforting Abraham, Abraham survival?

12. Going to Warsaw, the flashbacks to the train ride, the Germans and their decadence with the women, taunting Abraham about circumcision? His remembering these sequences? Collapsing?

13. In the hospital, the nurse, Gosh, the details of his story, identifying him, his leg – and his request to find Peter?

14. Culture and her help, going through the city, the street, the buildings, people not able to identify the place? Knocking on the door, no answer? Abraham wandering up the street, looking at the window, the two men looking at each other, recognition after over 70 years? The delivery of the suit, remembering the pattern, the bond between the two men?

15. The emotion in the end, reunited, the men and all they had endured, the end of their lives? But a film of hope?