A different and very dark take on World War II - The Notebook

The Hungarian 2014 film The Notebook, not to be confused with the American rom-dram of same name, is another look at World War II from the point of view of average citizens in the Eastern European countries - terrified by Nazi occupation but quite willing to collaborate is necessary, using the opportunity to vent their anti-Semitism and turn against their Jewish neighbors in order be on the side of the (then) powerful, happy to welcome the liberating armies as if they played no role in the occupation and oppression and then, to their dismay, the Soviet army turns out to be as oppressive as the Nazis (or, to the Catholics, worse) - this is ground similar to that of the AA winner Ida, and it makes me think that these have been taboo topics for many years and at last we're getting a look at a different, and very dark, face of the war and of the Holocaust. Similarity of topic aside, this film is very different from Ida in its specific material and treatment: involves twin brother, 11 years old, hustled away from their home city (somewhere in Hungary) by mother who takes them to live with her mother in the remote countryside - never entirely made clear why this is necessary, but presumably they feared either some sort of action by the occupying Nazis or by the Allied troops who were charging through Europe - in any event, the grandmother is a horrendous person who badly mistreats the boys, and over the course of their year with her they become hardened in every sort of way, as they see one type of atrocity after another and endure all sorts of hardships and privations. In surprising and not necessarily (to me) credible twist at the end, they refuse to go w/ their mother who comes to claim them as the war ends - they have become independent and mistrustful through their experiences - nor do they welcome their father, who arrives after fleeing across the country still in Army uniform: not exactly clear what he's afraid of - were the Allies killing all Axis soldiers? Was he at risk as a deserter? - a lot of the plot points are very murky, including the final scene in which one but not both brothers crosses a border to what appears to be safety. That said, many of the scenes in the village are painful and powerful, and we really feel for these boys as we watch them harden and grow under the force of great pressure and oppression. Just across the border, a short walk from the grandmother's run-down farm, is one of the concentration camps; in a late-movie scene we see the camp deserted except for plumes of black smoke rising from a tall chimney - one of many haunting visual moments in this strong and very dark film.