[Film] Fly Away Home (Maikäfer flieg)

18 May 2017

“Fly Away Home (Maikäfer flieg)”---European Union Film Festival

Release Year: 2016

Country: Austria

Director: Mirjam Unger

Cast: Zita Gaier, Ursula Strauss, Gerald Votava, Konstantin Khabenskiy

Location I watched: National Gallery Singapore

Story from the programme booklet:

Vienna 1945: The powder keg of war and the Russian occupation as seen through the innocent eyes of nine-year old Christine. Bombed out and penniless, she and her family are put up in a fancy villa in the outskirts of Vienna, a moment when class differences get amplified and all families in the house just want to survive. After the German soldiers capitulate, the Russians take over the house. Everybody is scared of the Russians, except Christine. Based on a novel by Christine Nöstlinger, the most popular children’s book author in Germany and Austria.

On the day before this screening, I saw a lady who came to the venue at the wrong time and watched “Kincsen - Bet on Revenge” instead of “Insyriated”. Now, I have made a similar mistake, too. This “Fly Away Home” started from 7pm, but I mistakenly thought the start was 7:30pm. I was near the venue at 7pm. However, thinking I was early, I was innocently eating dinner. When I saw there was nobody in the lobby of the venue, I realized my mistake. I assume that I missed the first 15 minutes or so. When I started watching the film, the protagonist, Christine and her family were already in the villa and her father has just returned to his family.

Generally, I do not like films with children or animals very much. The nine-year old protagonist, Christine is restless and selfish. She is not a likable person for me. “Fly Away Home” is describing the world seen through her eyes, so the camera movement is active like her. As she is a child, she still does not completely understand about war. However, she experiences many things.

There are some memorable scenes. Christina’s mother used to work for Mrs. von Braun, the mistress of the villa. That is why she got Mrs. von Braun’s offer and Christina’s family could stay in her villa. When Mrs. von Braun arrived with her small son later, she found Christine’s father who was hiding there. (Christina’s father is a soldier with the German Army, but he got injured and deserted from the hospital.) Then, Mrs. von Braun voluntarily started telling them how her husband had died by this war, and she did not say anything else. However, both ladies---Mrs. von Braun and Christine’s mother---looked like they understood each other. It does not matter which class people are belonging to. Everybody is suffering from war, but it is precious that we are still surviving. I think that they shared such feelings.

Christina became friends with one of Russian soldiers, Cohn who was in charge of cooking. She asked Cohn to bring her to her grandparents’ place in the town. Christina was proud that her grandmother was a brave woman. However, the grandmother that Christina saw in their apartment had become paranoid for fear of the war. It made Christina disappointed and sad. That scene is also impressive.

After bringing Christina to her grandparents’ place, Cohn was regarded as a deserter and arrested. Christina felt a sense of responsibility to that he could not return. She insisted on sleeping in his hut to wait for him. I did not like her initially, but from this scene, I began to have a good feeling for her.

Finally the Russian troops were departing from the villa. Actually Mrs. von Braun had an affair with the Major of the troops to take advantage of them. When Christina knew they were leaving, she told Mrs. von Braun that the Major would probably visit her again. However, Mrs. von Braun coolly said that she would forget him. Christina did not understand adults’ “situation”. She thought that Mrs. von Braun likes the Major and tried to comfort her. Now I felt Christina more adorable.

Friendship with a kind Russian cook, glancing at the world of adults... through many-sided experiences like a prism by a nine-year old girl, this film describes many things in the “empty” time at the end of the war; hunger, violence, changed people and unchanged family’s tie... It was terribly sorry for me to miss the first part. (5 January 2019)