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Dogs Don't Wear Pants (2019)
Dogs Don't Wear Pants (2019)
2019 | Drama, International, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The film reminded me a lot of the Mexican Leap Year, despite being a more pop version, as its Latin counterpart is rawer, denser and sadder. It doesn't mean that this film doesn't have its moments of rawness, density and sadness, but it is aesthetically more beautiful, it has a certain American film standard. The scenes of Juha trying to hold on to his wife's memories are very sad. The actors make the movie work, the duo, as strange as it may seem, managed to forge a nice chemistry. There is a lot that was left open and that could be better worked on in countless points, Juha's relationship with her daughter is just one of them. The ending left me with mixed feelings, but I got into the mood. The film only gets lost when it tries to emulate some points of Hollywood cinema, otherwise it made a good film. Krista Kosonen steals the scenes in which she appears, an actress who deserves much more than being an extra in Blade Runner.
  
A Child for the Reich
A Child for the Reich
Andie Newton | 2022 | History & Politics
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Inspired by a true story, this book is absolutely gripping and full of tension, heartbreak and the story of one woman's quest to find and rescue her daughter from the Nazi's Lebensborn programme.

Anna Dankova and her family live in Nazi-occupied Prague. Her husband and brother-in-law have joined the Czech Resistance leaving them to try and raise their children with the ever present danger of the Nazi soldiers, the Gestapo and the much feared Brown Sisters; female nurses who were dedicated to the Nazi cause. They worked for the Nazi Welfare Organization and searched through villages and towns for Aryan-looking children.

Anna and her sister's children are blonde-haired and blue-eyed and their fears are only too real but they are powerless against the might of the Nazi regime and one day, Anna's daughter, Ema is literally ripped from her arms in broad daylight leaving Anna, understandably, distraught and determined to get her back whatever the risks before she is lost forever.

Anna uses all her skills, courage and guile to find her daughter, infiltrate the children's home where she has been placed to be indoctrinated into the German way and to figure out a way to get her out of there whilst under the ever present threat of exposure and certain death.

This is a story full of tension and heartbreak and one mother's determination to find her daughter no matter what and it was absolutely gripping and I have no hesitation recommending it to those of you who 'enjoy' reading historical fiction based on true stories and events.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of A Child for the Reich.