The Odd Couple visits Poland.
Cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg – “The Social Network) and Benji Kaplan (Kieran Culkin – “No Sudden Move”) have signed up for a tour of Jewish heritage locations in Poland, using money left for that purpose by their beloved grandmother, a holocaust survivor. The two, despite having grown up together, are apparent polar opposites. David has obsessive compulsive disorder, is introverted, and lacks social self confidence. Benji appears extroverted, is the proverbial life of the party, but with a mercurial temperament, He also, as we learn, had a recent suicide attempt, has made no concrete steps toward an independent life, and lives in his mother’s basement.
These two, alternately affectionate and abusive, join four others in the tour, run by a non-Jewish Englishman (Will Sharpe – “The House”), whose desire to be informative is alternately condemned and then praised by Benji, as his mood swings.
Director/writer/actor Eisenberg has given us a detailed, if not nuanced, exposure to the interactions between two very different personalities as they face the stresses of visiting a country which endured the Nazi invasion and the murder of more than 500,000 of its citizens, just because of their ethnic background. While the Nazis are long gone, there is still a significant undercurrent of antisemitism in Poland,
A particularly moving sequence involves a tour of the Majdanek concentration camp by the group. In an interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” Eisenberg described the difficulty getting permission to film in what is considered a sacred site. It took long months of negotiations to convince the authorities to approve it and, when filmed, no other visitors are present. Of particular note is that, because it was evacuated rapidly in the face of the advancing Soviet Army, it was left in better condition than most of the other concentration camps. The reverent footage showing the men’s shower building, the gas chamber with the blue stains caused by the Zyclon B extermination gas, the crematory ovens, the huge bins of prisoner clothing, and the gigantic pile of ash, are truly overwhelming.
Much has been made of the different ways in which Eisenberg has his characters experience the trip to such an emotionally charged country. For example, Benji correctly points out that they are staying in posh hotels, eating excellent food, and traveling in first class comfort on Polish trains – much less traveling in the rear as oppressed Jews once did, or in the horrendously packed boxcars as the victims of genocide did.
Yet Benji also takes advantage of these comforts – even deserting first-class train accommodations at one time, only to claim he deserves it only minutes later. He is blind to the sacred nature of some locations, but overwhelmed by those of another. It is part of his mental illness, and it makes good points. Perhaps this dichotomy was intentional on the screenwriter’s part, and the other tour members fully accept their right to comfort and good treatment, but in my view it undermines the lesson. David’s even-keeled acceptance of what he experiences may not have the intensity of Benji’s, but it honors the experience consistently.
Note: The language used by the cousins is vulgar out of all relationship to what is going on scene by scene. It cheapens the dialogue and serves no purpose in this reviewers opinion. I think their grandmother would not approve.
Runtime: One hour, 30 minutes
Availability: Streaming on Disney+/Hulu, and for purchase online
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