The Flat (2011)

 

The Flat was one of those documentaries I stumbled upon via netflix. Its description on that site makes it sounds like a film centered around a mystery. In a way that's exactly what it's about. But if you go in looking for mind-blowing surprises and unsolved crimes, then you might be disappointed. If The Flat focuses on a mystery, then it's a meditation on the contradictions of the human mind, and the complexities of inter-generational relationships. 

The film opens with filmmaker Arnon Goldfinger organizing the titular flat in question.  Turns out it was the home of his recently deceased grandmother. His maternal grandparents were German Jews who moved to Israel in the wake of World War II. They never learned to speak Hebrew, and much of their apartment comes across as tribute to the land of their birth. Case in point; a bookshelf full of literature that's written auf Deutsch. In the middle of emptying out his grandmother's home, Goldfinger uncovers items that complicate his understanding of his grandparents lives in Germany and how they spent their years after the war. 

Filled with questions, Arnon Goldfinger proceeds to tape a number of interviews, and go on several trips to piece together the story of his grandparents. I mentioned in my previous review that modern reviews take on some stock tropes in order to engage viewer interest. The Flat largely eschews some of the traits of trendier films. In fact it's all very bare bones; sedate instrumental music, voiceovers, and extended interviews. Just the (known) facts, ma'am. It can make for a plodding, slow experience, but it fits the nature of the story being told. 

For me, the emotional anchor of The Flat was the relationship between the filmmaker and his mother. If Arnon Goldfinger is full of incredulity and curiosity, his mother is reserved and seemingly pragmatic about her parents' reticence. Goldfinger has an interest into figuring out the psychological truths of his grandparents' lives, while his mother hints at what it must be like to be raised by two refugees from Germany. How she didn't want to kick the proverbial hornets nest by asking questions and causing her parents further pain. In his travels, Arnon Goldfinger runs across many people of his mother's generation who have a shared demeanor. A couple times she looks to the side and says she wishes now that sometimes she had asked more. Together the two journey together and try to cope with their differing relationships to tragedy and veracity.

The Flat, then, is not just a story about how his grandparents coped with the horrific betrayal of their homeland. It's also about how World War II - and the Holocaust in particular - has rippled out and effected each subsequent generation. For Arnon Goldfinger, he seems to have settled on politely but persistently probing at secrets and asking questions designed to make people think. Near the end of the movie he uncovers information that might upset a previous interview subject. He gets on a train and, as his voiceover says, "my dilemma is what to do with what i know."

He ultimately opts to speak to the woman about his discoveries. However, this film demonstrates problems faced by historians or filmmakers of his generation. The movie ends with Goldfinger and his mother fruitlessly searching in Germany for the grave of a relative and the last shot is off the empty flat back in Israel. These are twin images that speak to one of the major themes of this documentary. Namely, the Holocaust didn't just kill millions upon millions of people. It also disrupted some of the usual transmissions of history, and people Goldfinger- descendents of survivors- now have to piece together their relatives lives in bits and pieces. And the answers to certain questions are simply lost forever.