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'Aftermath' stages its Holocaust tale like a horror movie

( Unrated ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

'Aftermath' is about Polish Jews who were killed during World War II but it's filmed like a run-of-the-mill scary movie.

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Courtesy of Menemsha Films
'Aftermath' stars Ireneusz Czop (l.) and Maciej Stuhr (r.).
  • By Peter Rainer Film critic

“Aftermath,” set in 2000, is about a horrific incident – the obliteration of Polish Jews from a village during World War II and its awful legacy – but director Wladyslaw Pasikowski has made the mistake of going about his business as if he were fashioning a horror film.

Franciszek Kalina (Ireneusz Czop) returns to the village 20 years after moving to Chicago and finds his younger brother Jósef (Maciej Stuhr) obsessed with uncovering Jewish headstones used by the Nazis for paving. He reconstructs in his wheat fields an improvised cemetery.

Franciszek, along with the townspeople, reeks of anti-Semitism, and Pasikowski stages their massed onslaughts as if we were watching “Village of the Damned.” He does no service to this tragedy to pulp its horrors. Grade: C+ (This film is not rated.)

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