Anne Michael’s 1997 “Fugitive Pieces” tells the story of Jakob as both a child who survives the murder of his family by Nazis in Poland but also as a writer wrestling with the ghosts of that lost family.
A positive book review at the time described the Canadian poet’s debut novel as “a long prose poem.”
Adapted by Canadian director Jeremy Podeswa, “Fugitive Pieces” delivers its own evocative poetry.
Stephen Dillane plays the grown Jakob. Robbie Kay imbues the 9-year-old Jakob with an appropriately muted, wounded demeanor.
Rade Sherbedgia is Athos, the Greek archaeologist who finds the boy in a Polish forest.
Jakob is dedicated to the fractured memories he has of his parents and his adored older sister, Bella. From a hiding place in their home, he saw snatches of his parents’ brutal demise. He assumes, but never truly knew, Bella’s fate.
She is the visitant who comes to him as an adult. Or, the film asks, is she the spirit never allowed peace by her heartbroken brother?
British actor Dillane (“Savage Grace”) is gifted at revealing thought and apprehension. He was a tremendous yet subtle boon to “The Hours” as Leonard Woolf.
As Jakob, he must be aggravating but sympathetic at once. His obsession with the details of the Holocaust (so understandable but personally damaging just the same) can make him complicated company. His journal reveals to his girlfriend where his heart really lies.
Podeswa avoids easy judgments. From Jakob’s shiksa girlfriend, Alex (Rosamund Pike), to Jozef (Diego Matamoros), a neighbor who uses his survival as a bludgeon on his son Ben, this film brims with characters who invite our understanding.
Much as his character provides Jakob the possibility of a life, Serbian actor Sherbedgia anchors “Fugitive Pieces” with a weighty soulfulness.
In one sorrow-laden scene, set in Greece, the widower and orphan weep over their losses, backs to each other.
Later, after Jakob completes his book, an echoing scene takes place in Canada where Athos and Jakob have relocated.
Adoptive father and son (writers of differently excavating works) face each other, tears in their eyes.
Podeswa pulls off a marvel of sorts. The way his film unfolds enforces the notion of being in the moment even as its protagonist is held by the past.
Shot by cinematographer Gregory Middleton, the movie is fully present to vibrant, affirming details: an orange held out to a child as a boat makes its way to a Greek isle; the shoes a new lover keeps on in the heat of a first tumble.
And the filmmaker captures with perfect warmth how rich life becomes when a new woman (Ayelet Zurer) comes gently into Jakob’s life.
I first saw “Fugitive Pieces” at the Toronto International Film Festival where it opened the 2007 to-do. This film is shorter than that. And though that version was just as lovely, it was punishing.
This subtlely altered beauty forgives in much the way Jakob and the audience deserve.
Film critic Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com
“Fugitive Pieces”
R for some sexuality. 1 hour, 45 minutes. Written and directed by Jeremy Podeswa; from the book by Anne Michaels; photography by Gregory Middleton; starring Stephen Dillane, Rade Sheredgia, Rosamund Pike, Ayelet Zurer, Robbie Kay, Ed Stoppard, Rachelle Lefevre, Nina Dobrev. Opens today at the Regency Theatres at Tamarac Square.
