The Notebook (A Nagy Fuzet)

Parental Rating: R

Contains: Language    Nudity    Violence    Sex    Adult Content    

Jill's Review

Opens September 19, 2014

Runs 112 minutes

At the height of WWII, twin boys are sent to live with their cruel grandmother (called "the witch" by the townfolk) on the Hungarian Border. She lives on a dumpy farm and immediately resents having to take in her grandchildren. She makes them work for food and beats them when they misbehave. The boys begin to work out a strategy for dealing with the cruelty all around them. They will make themselves tougher. If Grandmother deprives them of food, then they will fast for extra days. If grandmother hits them, they will encourage her to hit them again. They begin to harden themselves and they dutifully record everything in the Notebook that their father gave them before they were shipped away. Will the war end before the boys lose all traces of their humanity?

This is a stark and mesmerizing movie. The real twin brothers who play the twins in the movie are fantastic. But, this is a very dark movie. The grandmother is very cruel and you can clearly see the boys hardening and becoming more and more like her the longer they stay with her. The ending is very heart-wrenching. If you like foreign films with a historical perspective, then you might like this one. But, it isn't a happy film.

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