Fugitive Pieces (2007)

68% of critics liked it
(73 reviews)
62% of users liked it
(33,156 ratings)

Author Anne Michaels's poetic novel comes to the screen courtesy of director Jeremy Podeswa in this period drama concerning a Holocaust survivor who remains eternally haunted by the uncertain fate of his beloved sister. Athos (Rade Sherbedgia) is an archeologist conducting a dig in Nazi-occupied… More Author Anne Michaels's poetic novel comes to the screen courtesy of director Jeremy Podeswa in this period drama concerning a Holocaust survivor who remains eternally haunted by the uncertain fate of his beloved sister. Athos (Rade Sherbedgia) is an archeologist conducting a dig in Nazi-occupied Poland. When Athos discovers a seven-year-old boy named Jakob (Robbie Kay) hiding near the work site, he smuggles the frightened boy back to Greece and promises to shelter him when the Nazis come knocking there as well. Having previously witnessed the brutal massacre of his family at the hands of Hitler's henchmen, Jakob longs to find out what fate befell his sister, Bella (Nina Dobrev) -- who wasn't executed with the majority of his other relatives but subsequently disappeared without a trace. After the war, Athos and Jakob emigrate to Toronto in hopes of starting a new life. But even after all these years, Jakob (Stephen Dillane) can't seem to shake the grief of losing his family and not knowing what ever became of Bella. Later, when Jakob marries the radiant Alex (Rosamund Pike), the bright-eyed beauty does her best to illuminate the dark corners within her husband's soul. To maintain one's connection to ghosts requires a certain shunning of the living, however, and only when Jakob discovers the strength to let go of his painful past will he finally be able to move forward into the future. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 45 min.
Directed By: Jeremy Podeswa
Written By: Jeremy Podeswa
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: May 2, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Oct 14, 2008
Studio: IDP Distribution

Critic Reviews

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
Fugitive Pieces delivers its own evocative poetry.
Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com
The great Serbian actor Rade Serbedzija gives Fugitive Pieces its heart.
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Tasteful, unremarkable art-house fare, rescued from complete irrelevance by Stephen Dillane's bottled-up performance as a writer scarred by the Holocaust.
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune
Fugitive Pieces is often quiet, lyrical, reflective and underplayed. It doesn't minimize Holocaust suffering--far from it--but it strives, often successfully, to unearth the innate good in people Anne Frank alluded to so eloquently.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
If Fugitive Pieces has a message, it is that life can heal us, if we allow it.
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
Everyone in the movie...is fabulous, and Podeswa has an ability to distill history into a few powerful images.
Brandon Judell, indieWIRE
Distractingly jumping back and forth in time, the film falters badly in the modern era, yet its tale is still a moving one.
Leo Goldsmith, indieWIRE
Nostalgic, deeply felt, and refreshingly astute, "Fugitive Pieces" is something of a rare bird these days%u2014a big-budget, transnational historical drama that actually justifies its scope and subject matter with more than visual opulence.
Philip French, Observer [UK]
Podeswa's confusing, commonplace film lumbers along with a painful sincerity.
Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
Plays out with such daunting high-mindedness it makes The Reader look like Transformers.
Charlotte O'Sullivan, This is London
Fugitive Pieces reduces the Holocaust and its aftermath to a cosy soap opera.
Wally Hammond, Time Out
One of the most delicate, approachable and rewarding Holocaust movies of recent years.
James Mottram, Film4
Given the source novel, Podeswa's attempt to adapt Fugitive Pieces is admirable in itself. Yet despite an enthusiastic cast, this fails to transport you in the same way. Tying itself in narrative knots, the end result is stilted.
Kevin Maher, Times [UK]
The movie has little dramatic momentum, and its journey is essentially Jakob's incremental acceptance of his fate. But Dillane and the writer-director Jeremy Podeswa create such a compelling central character that it hardly matters.
Edward Porter, Times [UK]
His journey towards peace of mind involves lots of lyrical philosophising, which presumably comes straight from the film's source novel, by Anne Michaels, and doesn't lend itself to dramatisation, despite Dillane's typically intelligent performance.
Andrew Pulver, Guardian [UK]
Anne Michael's complex, poetic novel is here adapted into a stolid, somewhat po-faced film, but one that still manages to tease some affecting drama out of its scholarly premise.
Sophie Ivan, Little White Lies
Despite a rich premise, the soul-searching of the older Jakob is, at best, curiously colourless; at worst, positively grating.
Chris Prince, Sky Movies
An intermittently powerful, if not entirely successful, piece.
Matt Glasby, Total Film
But while there's life, there's hope, and Jeremy Podeswa's delicate, deliberate adaptation of Anne Michaels' novel follows Jakob's heartrending progress from the darkness to the light.
Karl French, Financial Times
There are fleeting moments of poignancy and poetry, significantly when the script features narration taken almost directly from the novel, but this is clunkily written and poorly edited.

Read all 23 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Cynthia S

A Holocaust story about memory, intimacy, revelation, and redemption. My only complaint here was the very slow pace. It really drags its feet. I am sure the pacing worked better in written form, and the movie did inspire me to seek out more about this author. The novel, I am told, is… More
A Holocaust story about memory, intimacy, revelation, and redemption. My only complaint here was the very slow pace. It really drags its feet. I am sure the pacing worked better in written form, and the movie did inspire me to seek out more about this author. The novel, I am told, is written in prose form, and is as beautifully written as the story it tells. The movie comes across in the same exact way, and takes some patience to appreciate it, I guess.
Bannan i

A-bloody-mazing. I need this book, the story is as intriguing as it is compelling and it is told in a really beautiful manner. To be honest, I'm kinda sad most of you have picked this as a 'not interested'. I guess it's not for everyone. [review TBC].
Red L

I found this a gripping movie. Life is not easy for Holocaust survivors. We follow the life of a Jakob who looses he parents and sister to the Nazi's. He has troubles letting his memories go - he needs to retain them, but not forgetting means he cannot love. The acting by… More
I found this a gripping movie. Life is not easy for Holocaust survivors. We follow the life of a Jakob who looses he parents and sister to the Nazi's. He has troubles letting his memories go - he needs to retain them, but not forgetting means he cannot love. The acting by Robbie Kay who played Jakob as a nine year old was amazing.
Bruce B

A very moving story of a young boy who during the occupation of Nazi Germany, watches a soldiers execute his family and drag off his sister to the woods to do who knows what, we see his life story, the man who harbored him, and the relationships he has as he grows older. Its a good… More
A very moving story of a young boy who during the occupation of Nazi Germany, watches a soldiers execute his family and drag off his sister to the woods to do who knows what, we see his life story, the man who harbored him, and the relationships he has as he grows older. Its a good story, but for adults. Have to give it 4 stars.
Cassandra M

Moving, beautifully crafted, unbelievable performances, direct, poetic, raw. I was so moved by this film, I find it hard to compose complete sentences to describe it. This movie touched and inspired every cell in my body. The acting by the entire cast was precise and authentic. How… More
Moving, beautifully crafted, unbelievable performances, direct, poetic, raw. I was so moved by this film, I find it hard to compose complete sentences to describe it. This movie touched and inspired every cell in my body. The acting by the entire cast was precise and authentic. How were they able to compile this cast? How did they manage to extract these performances? The writing is intelligent, sensitive, moving and direct. This is a rare script. Each scene in this movie required such an investment by the entire film crew to reach its rare authenticity. The courage it would take to produce this film escapes me. While the result deserves the highest awards, this is not a film that was made for the sake of popularity. This film feels like a labor of love and the result of the truest of intentions. My hat is off to anyone who participated in this film.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "Fugitive Pieces," Jakob(Robbie Kay) lives with his parents and older sister, Bella(Nina Dobrev), in Poland before World War II. When the Nazis invade, they tell Jakob to hide but he takes off and makes it as far as an archaeological site. There, he… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "Fugitive Pieces," Jakob(Robbie Kay) lives with his parents and older sister, Bella(Nina Dobrev), in Poland before World War II. When the Nazis invade, they tell Jakob to hide but he takes off and makes it as far as an archaeological site. There, he is rescued by Athos(Rade Serbedzija), and brought to his native Greece.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Decades later, Jakob(Stephen Dillane) has many reasons to celebrate while living in Toronto. His first year wedding anniversary to the free-spirited Alex(Rosamund Pike) is coming up and his first book is about to published. Despite that, Jakob is still gripped by memories from when he was a child...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Fugitive Pieces" is an exquisitely smart movie about memory which is reflected in the film's structure which jumps around in time to simulate the process of remembrance. Whereas Alex lives purely for the moment, Jakob is drawn inexorably to the past, not only as a historian, but also to face those questions that can never fully be answered. After he witnessed his father being killed, he wonders what exactly did happen to Bella. On another level, there is the larger question of why the Nazis did the unthinkable. In the end, this excellent movie makes a valid point why the study of history is so very important.[/font]
Lea L

Fugitive Pieces - He found himself in the love around him.. Fragments of past and present create a haunting kaleidoscope of words and emotions. Lyrical and complex, Jeremy Podeswa's adaptation of Anne Michael's beloved novel builds into a… More
Fugitive Pieces - He found himself in the love around him.. Fragments of past and present create a haunting kaleidoscope of words and emotions. Lyrical and complex, Jeremy Podeswa's adaptation of Anne Michael's beloved novel builds into a breathtaking mosaic as fragments of the past and present reveal the inner depths of a writer who can't let go of the ghosts that haunt him. Athos is directing an archaological dig in Nazi-occupied Poland when he discovers a little boy hiding. After witnessing the massacre of members of his family, seven-year-old Jakob does not know the fate of his beloved sister Bella - a mystery that will haunt him for the rest of his life. As Jakob grows into a man, he becomes progressively more consumed by his family's tragedy and his longing for Bella, coloring his relationships. A truly moving and unforgettable story. good movie..