Review of Adam Resurrected (2008) by Scott W — 18 Aug 2010

"Adam Resurrected" starts in Tel Aviv in 1961 where the men in the white suits with butterfly nets come to take Adam Stein(Jeff Goldblum) away to the Seizling Institute, a rehab facility for Holocaust survivors, after he tries to strangle his landlady(Juliane Kohler). While some may have doubts about whether or not he can be cured, Dr. Gross(Derek Jacobi), the head doctor, disagrees and Gina(Ayelet Zurer), a nurse, thinks he is hot for some odd reason. While there, he remembers being a clown and working with his family in Berlin before World War II, while sensing there is a dog in room 285.

Directed by Paul Schrader, "Adam Resurrected" takes an intriguing psychological angle at the Holocaust, showing that the suffering did not end simply with the liberation of the camps. Adam suffers from a type of survivors' guilt, being dehumanized in his own way. That realistic approach is undercut by elements of magic realism and mysticism. Adam develops odd ailments from which he comes back from the dead, causing at least one fellow patient to think he is the messiah. Why not? They are in the desert, after all. Yes, the movie does come full circle but why so sentimental?