Wunderkinder by Markus Rosenmueller...❤

Yesterday (28/09/12), I woke up early to watch a movie titled 'Wunderkinder' that I had downloaded not long ago (M'sia doesn't screen this kind of movie). Set in 1941, Wunderkinder is a touching movie about a friendship formed through a love and passion for music between three music prodigies (Wunderkinder(plural form) means child prodigy in German): a German girl, Hanna Reich (Mathilda Adamik), and two Jewish Ukrainians, Larissa Brodsky (Imogen Burrell) and Abrascha Kaplan (Elin Kolev). As the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, the children’s families were torn apart and their friendship was put to the test.

Wunderkinder is also a movie dedicated to the 1.6 million Jewish children who were killed during World War II. The director was Markus Rosenmueller who has worked mainly in television and his rather pedestrian and predictable approach somewhat undermines the power of the story. It is an interesting situation, these people caught on the varying tides of war, and ultimately a tragic one.

The movie begins in the present day. Hanna, as a professional violinist, is about to embark on her farewell tour. When she finishes rehearsal for the day, she receives a heart-breaking package. As Hanna explains the significance of the package to her visiting grand-daughter, so begins the movie proper.

At first, the Ukrainian children do not want to be friends with Hanna, and her parents must pay Larissa’s and Abrascha’s parents to organise a group practice. But slowly, their love for music unites the children and they form a bond that even the cruellest Colonel Schartow cannot break. As the situation worsens, the children’s parents struggle to choose between keeping their family safe, or giving their children what they want—which is, simply, to make music with their best friends.

Kolev as Abrascha is the real star—a prodigy in real life, he actually played every note himself. Adamik and Burrell also perform well, both musically and theatrically. The star-studded adult cast are Kai Wiesinger, Gudrun Landgrebe, Konstantin Wecker, Gedeon Burkhard, Michael Mendl, and Natalia Avelon.

Wunderkinder is intended to be a family film, especially targeting 12- and 13-year-old audiences. I see no gratuitous violence as war movie usually had and I hear no coarse language (Ern, well I don't know German language but at least I don't see any coarse language written in the subtitles).

The soundtrack was not overbearing. The children’s friendship song is also the theme song for the film. I like the song very much as if love at first sight but till now I still haven't able to find the music score... The name of the theme song is called 'Larissas Lied' (Anyone has the music sheet, can you please send it to me? Million thanks!) Overall, Wunderkinder, which won awards in film festivals in Jerusalem and Copenhagen in 2011, is a touching movie with only minor details to niggle at.

This is the movie trailer:

This is the theme song - the children's friendship song (Larissas Lied):