Train of Life (1998)

The comparison to Life is Beautiful is inevitable. The only similarity that I can see is that both are a comedy that encompasses the biggest horror in humanity: the Holocaust. Whereas La Vita e Bella is a one-man show, this is a story about a community that has to deal with the crisis in their own unique way.

When the Germans are approaching the little Jewish village in France, the village votes to purchase a train, a German train rather, and a group of the villagers would pretend to be German soldiers accosting the condemned Jews to the concentration camp. On their way to Russia and safety, one thing after another goes bad, there is the dissension in the rank by the "Communist Jews", there are a French soldiers who really think that the train is a real German train and try to bomb it to save the Jews. Then they meet up with real German soldiers and the adventure continues. Whether they make it or not, you would have to watch it yourself, I won't ruin your ending.

The comedy is rather heavy-handed, along with the amusing adventure, you learn about the passengers, their hopes and dreams. At times it almost falls into drama while quickly making a retreat back to the comedic genre. A light-hearted comedy this is not, at every misadventure they come to, as an audience, your heart jumps along. You wonder if they will make it past this obstacle. You predict that they will, since it is a comedy after all, then again you probably remember how Life is Beautiful ends. Can you really make a pure comedy out of such tragedy?

This is the aspect that keeps the movie rolling. The anticipation of what is going to happen next. The movie contains enough moments to keep you laughing. However, it is during the moments when nothing happens and the passengers deal with their own issues, that the movie gets interesting.

without being biased (since I'm Romanian) I have to admit that the movie is simply great! the comic part just wants to shift the accent from the extremely sad situation to a rather pleasent occuring... all the twists and turns give the movie its capability to keep you seated until you see what happened to them. like many other European movies it is a greatly phylosophical movie as well and it is far from the ordinary comercial movies that bring in the money for box offices.

the actors are great. the picture is also amazing...

WATCH IT!

Buy Train of Life (1998) Now

I've had this movie stolen from me three times. It's better than Life is Beautiful! It's amazing. Without giving away too much of the story, I will say, pay attention to the words of Schlomo the village idiot. His monologues are profound. Pay attention to the transformation of the "Nazis" who struggle not to become their uniform, and I promise you the last 30 seconds of the film will take your breath away.

An amazing movie that has not gotten nearly enough attention in the United States. This movie deserves a full run. It may be overlooked but it can never be anything less than what it is; one of the best movies ever made.

Read Best Reviews of Train of Life (1998) Here

I wholeheartedly second the review by 'Mt.Healthy Mountaineer "intrepid reviewer"' but would like to note that he has the geographical details all mixed up: the film DOES concern the fate of a little Jewish village as the Nazis approach, but the village is NOT in France. There have never been any little Jewish villages in France. This village is quite clearly set in Eastern Europe (Poland, Romania, Lithuania...), where such villages were actually to be found. I'm guessing Romania, because the director (and writer, if I remember correctly) of this film is himself a Romanian. And for all the elements of farce in this film, it has about it the unmistakable LOOK of authenticity.

What made the previous reviewer think that this film was set in France? Simple: it happens to be a French-LANGUAGE film (with English subtitles, of course), and its actual title is "Train de Vie".

So now the story line begins to make sense: News reaches the little Jewish village in Romania that the Germans are approaching (from the West), and that all the citizens of the neighboring villages have been put on trains and shipped WEST toward Germany...and not one of these Jews has ever been heard from again. In desperation, they hatch a plan to buy an old train, paint it to look like the trains the Nazi's are using, disguise some of themselves as Nazi officers and the rest as their prisoners, and "deport" their whole village...no, not West, toward Germany, but EAST, to neighboring Russia, where they believe they'll be free and from which some of them might eventually even head for Palestine.

(Of course, had the village really been in France, then heading East would have taken them right to...Germany.)

Want Train of Life (1998) Discount?

This is a World War II Jewish Holucaust comedy, if you can believe it. It is in French w/subtitles and it concerns a little French Jewish village that knows the Nazis are coming to deport their village. Everyone is panic-stricken until the village idiot has a brilliant idea the village should get a train and "deport" themselves all of the way to Palestine. The movie is all about their purchase of a delapidated old train, its refurbishment into a Nazi-style train and their escape across Europe and the chase by the Nazis.

Along the way, there are all kinds of humorous encounters with Nazis, the French Resistance, Gypsies and Communists. Parts of it are "Keystone cops" and parts of it are "Monty Python-esque".

I will not tell you how it ends, because the ending packs a powerful emotional punch. However, I do whole-heartedly recommend the movie.

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