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This deeply moving
film, directed by Billy Hopkins, is about a beautiful American
teenager, Daisy (played by Claire Danes, Romeo and Juliet)
and her flamboyant Holocaust-survivor grandmother (played magnificently
by Jeanne Moreau).
The film is replete with foreshadowing, symbolism and multi-layered
meanings.
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A lecturer in
Daisy's school opens up, for her, the Pandora's box of her grandmother's
("Nana's") past. The director introduces black and white
photography and docu-drama footage to create an atmosphere of
realism in this fictional tale of a girl who struggles with the
pain of unrequited love, the discovery of Nana's life and, in
the process, the search for her own self and soul.
Like a fine work
of literature, the film is replete with foreshadowing, symbolism
and multi-layered meanings. Daisy's parents never surface in the
film, other than through phone calls, drawing her even closer
to her grandmother as a mirror image of her own emotions.
Highly recommended.
This film can be used in the family forum or in the classroom
to teach about values like family loyalty, friendship and respect
for human life and for the feelings of others.
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