Il negozio al corso

This is one of the most elegantly crafted and powerful movies relating to the Holocaust that I have ever seen.

As the editor and publisher of the memoir of a Jewish Holocaust survivor from Slovakia, I can aver that this movie is achingly true to life. The film's setting could be this woman's hometown. Like Mrs. Lautmann in the movie, this woman had lived behind one of the family's shops on her hometown's Main Street and her family's properties were seized during the Aryanization depicted in this movie.

How the writer, director, and actors of this seemingly small film were able to condense and convey so much of the socio-economic and political tenor of that time and place, with such acumen, dark humor, and pathos is astounding.

It seamlessly moves toward an inexorable conclusion, with each successive scene leading the viewer deeper into the world of the two protagonists and reeling from the truths that the filmmakers expertly offer up.

It is days after viewing it, and still, I cannot shake this movie.