The grim story of Theresienstadt or Terezin, the Bohemian garrison town converted under Nazi occupation into a ghetto and used as a showplace to demonstrate Hitler's kindness, is a study in shabby illusions. The whole subject of mimicry is studied from each side, since the major character
is the Parisian pantomimist, Antoine Moreau (Tom Courtenay), who has been coerced into performing in Terezin.
Moreau seems to be on the skids; he's been hitting the bottle, is suspicious of his young mistress, Michele (Ingrid Held), and has been reduced to performing in clown makeup in a nightclub frequented by the German military. Moreau dares transform one of his comic sketches into a mildly satirical
sequence that ridicules the Nazi salute, and is arrested. Thinking he's a Jew, Moreau's Gestapo interrogator treats him roughly, until a higher-ranking SS officer, Steiner (Jiri Lir), initiates a newer tact; they want Moreau to perform in Terezin. Depressed and confused by what looks like a shabby
provincial town, Moreau notes the odd conditions: a mass of fearful and ill-fed people, with a generous sprinkling of once rich and famous Jews whom he knows from the world of high culture.
Moreau learns about the ghetto--reserved for those Jewish prisoners deemed by the Nazis worthwhile enough to keep from shipment to the extermination camps--from street gamine Stella (Linda Jablonska) and her teacher, Vera (Brigitte Fossey), and decides to recruit as many Jews as possible for his
performance, in order to save them from deportation. But he becomes aware that his performance is to serve as part of the Nazis' effort at deluding the expected visitors--the International Red Cross--into believing the Jews are sternly but justly treated. Commandant Gruber does the casting,
although he pretends to Moreau that he is just a harmless bureaucrat balancing the population census. Moreau senses that the scales involve death, and proposes a Hansel and Gretel story that the Red Cross will remember. The play itself is strikingly done: the gingerbread house is revealed as a
prison, and the children appear in their regular clothes--with Jewish star attached--before a hideous witch feeds them into the flames. Steiner is smart enough to applaud the performance, but makes sure Moreau and his colleagues are part of the next transport to the camps.
THE LAST BUTTERFLY embodies some of the problems faced by contemporary films dealing with WWII. As the events of that war recede deeper into the memories of aging survivors, feature films become doubly distant. This distanciation is increased in international co-productions in which absolutely
everybody speaks English, including the odd SS guard. Any film on this subject must confuse and terrify audiences as much as possible to convey some of the feeling of the event, and THE LAST BUTTERFLY fails to do so. (Nudity, adult situations.) leave a comment
