Waiting for Anya, 2020.
Directed by Ben Cookson.
Starring Anjelica Huston, Jean Reno, Thomas Kretschmann, Sadie Frost, Noah Schnapp, Elsa Zylberstein, Urs Rechn, Lukas Sauer, Tómas Lemarquis, Nicholas Rowe, Gilles Marini. Joséphine de La Baume, William Abadie, Jean-François Balmer, and Frederick Schmidt.
SYNOPSIS:
During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
For anyone that thought the recently released and Best Picture nominated Jojo Rabbit was too silly, satirical, and tonally offputting to fully invest in as a look at young children and their efforts to understand World War II and the line of hateful thinking by Nazis, co-writer and director Ben Cookson’s Waiting for Anya (it’s based on the novel of the same name which was also written by War Horse author Michael Morpurgo, which in turn got adopted by Steven Spielberg and nominated for a bunch of Oscars) is the formula-driven standard book adaptation that hits all the tried-and-true dramatic notes of hiding Jews and smuggling them to a safer place.
Waiting for Anya stars Jo (Stranger Things‘ Noah Schnapp) as a farm boy and sheepherder living in Nazi-occupied southern France who one day falls asleep on the job and stumbles into a dangerous encounter with a bear. Following his escape and return to the location, he meets Benjamin (Frederick Schmidt) who not only explains that the mama bear was protecting her cub, but offers all-around kind hospitality and the approval to visit the cub whenever he wishes. It’s not long before Jo starts exploring the area beyond that and discovers a group of children tucked away in secrecy in a barn.
Upon further discussion, which also includes Angelica Huston’s mother-in-law to Benjamin named Horcada, Jo realizes that they run an operation transferring the children across the border to Spain so they can live a peaceful life. Benjamin also explains that while he does this out of the good in his heart, he is also hoping that one day one of the children that make their way into his production will be his long daughter Anya (the film opens with a prologue showing many families being separated from their offspring in a sequence that might be a bit too on-the-nose as it relates to modern-day life).
Soon after, the Nazis make their way to the village, and while Benjamin and Horcada reside way up in the mountains in isolation to make it easier smuggling these children across the border, their oppressive presence (one that is matched by often gray and bleak visuals that fit the tone) proves to complicate the espionage. No trips are able to be conducted for the time being, so the pair employ Jo as an errand boy that makes a number of food purchases in town and hauls everything back so that the kids have enough to survive. As time goes on, this also comes to include other necessities such as medicines for sick children.
Meanwhile, the engagement and flow of this story arc is somewhat disrupted by Jo’s own home life with his grandfather (strongly played by the legendary Jean Reno, who gets a terrific scene defending and expressing how proud he is of Jo), and making acquaintance with a German corporal (Thomas Kretschmann) seemingly conflicted about his own actions. Elsewhere, Jo’s father returns as a prisoner of war filled with nothing but contempt and hatred for the Germans, which in turn muddles the complex thoughts that must be going through Jo’s head, and more intriguingly, thoughts that continue to sway him in favor of the German corporal over his own father who is basically a shell of his former self. Nevertheless, Jo always remains focused on doing the humane thing and helping the children survive so that Benjamin can go on another saintly journey. As one could expect, more mouths to feed come in and the food budget skyrockets. It’s not going to be easy to keep eyes off of the mountain home no matter how secluded they are.
It’s all a well-intentioned and competently told story, but there’s little here to really create a dramatic spark. Even when the group decides to take a stand and pull off an operation right in plain sight of the Germans to get the children to Spain, it’s enacted with not much tension or urgency. Character arcs feel rushed and there’s so much going on that the narrative is often kept at a distance from nurturing and protecting the Jewish children. Jo also isn’t that fascinating of a character to justify locking the story to his perspective, no matter how logical that may be for adapting the novel (it most likely has more time to develop these individuals). The self-reflective narration doesn’t add anything to the character and seems to only be there to detail the obvious.
Jean Reno and Angelica Huston give impassioned turns and the tale itself is uplifting, but it all feels rushed and ineffective (especially a side plot with Jo’s mentally challenged classmate friend). The point is that even if you thought Jojo Rabbit was a swing and a miss, we should be grateful for filmmakers like Taika Waititi approaching World War II with a unique and refreshing voice. Waiting for Anya is not terrible by any means, but no one will blame you for not sticking through the entire movie to see if she returns or not.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, friend me on Facebook, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, check out my personal non-Flickering Myth affiliated Patreon, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
