2022 Directed by Andreas Kessler
Ukraine during the German occupation in 1943. 12-year-old orphan Mitka earns a living in a tavern under a false name by playing music every night for the mainly German guests. He is accompanied in his playing on the violin by the pianist Yegor. Even beyond the music, he tries to be a friend and mentor to the boy. Mitka, however, finds it difficult to accept the budding friendship. This is because none of the people involved has any idea that Mitka belongs to a Jewish partisan movement.
Germany
Sehnsüchte Internationales Studierendenfilmfestival
Germany
Bundesfestival junger Film
Germany
The apparently obligatory Nazi-era-themed short film on this year's shortlist (let's hope there's only one of them), and it feels so much like an Oscar-Nominated Short Film™ that I won't even pretend to hope the Academy will resist the temptation to nominate it.
2023 Oscars: Live Action Shorts - #4
If someone asked me to imagine an oscar-winning short film this is exactly what I would have pictured.
NAKAM will be screened at the 2nd Academy of Death Racers Film Festival from the 6th - 22nd of January 2023. Get your virtual passes now by visiting our website.
[Live Action Short Film Selection]
Twelve year old violin player Mitka is supposed to execute an attack on several SS officers in the name of a Ukrainian partisan movement. But this attempt will also put his only friend in life danger.
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After watching three really fun shorts I don’t think I was in the right mood for this… or maybe it’s just a little long and boring
The ending of this feels extremely unresolved, in an almost unintentional way. For those who don't know, Nakam refers to a post-1945 paramilitary organisation who sought the deaths of six million Germans in indiscriminate recompense for the Holocaust, under the slogan "a nation for a nation". Their efforts to poison food and water supplies en masse would fall under the modern description of a terrorist group, and their tactics are similarly morally dubious to this film.
What Nakam presents as an emotionally compromising tie with the boy's accompanist is an interesting moral question, but it goes unanswered with a slightly rushed finale. I would like to have seen more, despite the long runtime for a short of this nature, because…
Agora serei obrigado a visitar Jerusalém para ver o violino do Motele Schlein pessoalmente. Como bom consumidor de histórias de guerra que sou, adorei o curta, a abordagem apreensiva, a interpretação do jovem protagonista e a sutil correlação entre música e cordas. Não estava por dentro da história do Nakam e fiquei impressionado.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
Please check out my review of Andreas Kessler's Naked by clicking the link below.
Mitka (Anton Krymskiy) is a twelve-year-old musician given a task that anyone might struggle to follow through with. He has been asked to carry out an attack on a series of SS officers as a means of retaliation and revenge for the crimes they have committed. As he comes to terms with the repercussions that will come with his decision, he knows that a lot rests on his shoulders. Nakam means revenge. [more...]
