A Jewish Girl's Self-Discovery in Jeroen Krabbe's 'Left Luggage'

By Tam Notosusanto

JAKARTA (JP): The film Left Luggage speaks volumes about cultural heritage and the historical past, yet it has a central character who doesn't want to deal with any of it. At least not in the beginning.

Set in 1970s Antwerp, Belgium, the film tells of Chaja Silberschmidt (Laura Fraser), a carefree 20-year-old college student who rapidly jumps from one odd job to another, and spends her time going to student rallies organized by her campus- activist boyfriend, Peter (Antonie Kamerling). Between times, she makes infrequent visits to her parents (Maximilian Schell and Marianne Saegebrecht) who happen to be Holocaust survivors.

Every time Chaja visits her parents' home, she faces the same things: her mother complains about Chaja's not coming over often enough, before insistently offering a piece of cake. And her father tells the same story over and over: that during World War II, as he and Chaja's mother were escaping Nazi persecution, he buried two suitcases loaded with their most priced possessions in the yard of one of their hiding places.

Judging from the title and the film's prologue, Mr. Silberschmidt's story is apparently the heart of Left Luggage. It is the essence of his obsession, and we can only anticipate that Chaja, who looks not the least interested in it, would undergo a change of attitude as she learns something from her father's quest to re-discover the two suitcases.

The film is indeed about a transformation that occurs inside Chaja, but the buried suitcases turn out not to be the central device. The story takes a turn as Chaja reluctantly lands a new job: as a nanny to the children of a Hasidic Jewish family.

Desperation for money to pay the rent is what drives Chaja to take the job. As she tells Mr. Apfelschnitt (Chaim Topol), a kindly, elderly neighbor whom she regularly visits, she is not too enthusiastic about working for an orthodox Jewish family, which implements strict rules for behavior and appearance, especially those of a woman.

All it takes is a five-year-old boy to attach Chaja to her babysitting position. No matter how unbearable the work sometimes is and no matter what cold treatment she receives from Mr. Kalman (Jeroen Krabbe), the head of the family, Chaja perseveres, because cute Simcha (Adam Monty) has stolen her heart. Chaja is especially drawn to this third of the four Kalman children because, as Mrs. Kalman (Isabella Rossellini) solemnly explains, Simcha had never before uttered a single word.

The film shifts focus into portraying how Chaja gradually wins the little boy's trust and finally motivates him to speak. Discovering that Simcha's silence is related to his father's stiff, inflexible discipline, Chaja guides the child in memorizing some ritual verses to recite in the upcoming Passover dinner. The Passover dinner itself becomes some a climactic point, where Simcha gets the opportunity to win over his father again, and Chaja learns a cold, hard lesson.

Adapted from the novel The Shovel and the Loom by Carl Friedman, Left Luggage has so much cinematic potential. It has an engaging story that offers a look into culture clashes between generations and between people of slightly different beliefs.

In the center is Chaja, a Jewish girl who has never been in touch with her "Jewishness:" she only half-listens to her parents' stories of the Holocaust, and she is initially disdainful of the Hassidic ways of the Kalman family. But along the way, she does a lot of learning. Chaja undergoes a mental awakening as she learns the Passover Four Questions from Mr. Apfelschnitt in order to transfer them to Simcha.

She even re-discovers herself as she fiercely defends the Kalman family from the abusive treatment of their apartment's anti-Semitic concierge; and when her best friend Sofie (Heather Weeks), unaware that Chaja is actually Jewish, expresses her disdain for Jews.

Jeroen Krabbe, a renowned Dutch actor who has appeared in Hollywood films including The Living Daylights, The Prince of Tides and The Fugitive, makes his directorial debut with Left Luggage. It's quite an achievement, considering that this film earned him the Blue Angel Award from the European Academy of Film and Television at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival.

However, Krabbe, who doubled as an actor in this film, actually needed to go deeper to explore the complex issues raised in Left Luggage.

We know that there is a connection between Chaja's awakening at the Kalman household and her eventual understanding of her own parents, but the film never clarifies it. And the Jewish characters who surround Chaja and supposedly make an impression on her, are shallowly drawn.

Her parents are nothing more than mere eccentrics and Mr. Apfelschnitt is an uninteresting tutor who always appears from nowhere whenever Chaja needs advice. We never go beyond Mr. Kalman's dark cloaks to reveal the heart of the man. With English subtitles, the film lacks a sense of reality and becomes overly simplistic and superficial.

Nevertheless, Krabbe succeeds in keeping the story going smoothly, making the film watchable to some degree. And it benefits from the performance of Scottish-born Fraser, who knows how to be subtle in her display of explosive emotions.