An extraordinary true WWII survival story | Desperate Journey (2025) (REVIEW) | Projector Shorts - video Dailymotion

Film Brain

Film Brain reviews a film, based on a true story of a man who survived during the war in Paris' burlesque scene, from the co-director of Max Headroom, a life so remarkable the film struggles to fit it all in.

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00:00In this World War II drama based on a true story, one man makes a desperate journey for his survival.

00:07Freddy Noller, played by Lucas Lingard Tonneson, is forced to leave his family in Vienna behind

00:11after the Anschluss and the rising anti-Semitism.

00:15He eventually finds his way to Paris, where he takes a job in a burlesque club to earn money for new papers

00:20so that he can cross into England, where he falls for dancer Jack Lean, played by Clara Rudgaard,

00:25but has to hide his identity from the clientele of Nazi soldiers.

00:30This is Hound by Annabelle Jankel, who previously directed Tell It to the Bees,

00:33and co-directed Max Headroom and Super Mario Brothers.

00:36And the story of Freddy Noller is a remarkable one.

00:40Noller survived the Holocaust and often spoke about his experiences, including two books,

00:45one of which shares the name of this film, and he passed away in 2022, aged 100.

00:50Desperate Journey is especially chilling in the first act in Austria,

00:54as the tide of prejudice rises into a terrifying threat.

00:57Jankel's direction doesn't shy away from the moments of shocking brutality and cruelty in the story,

01:02and how frightening it was living through that time,

01:05aided by some excellent production values recreating Vienna and Paris in that period.

01:10When Noller reaches France, the film shifts gears into something reminiscent of cabaret at times,

01:15and does so again in the third act, where it turns almost into a spy thriller,

01:19when Noller starts working with the French Resistance, including Stephen Berkhoff as a forger.

01:24Less successfully handled is the wraparound narrative during Noller's death march from Auschwitz,

01:29which can awkwardly interrupt the action,

01:31and may have worked better either bookending the film, or in more linear order.

01:36The tricky part is that Noller's story is so extraordinary,

01:39that it's actually hard to fit all of it in the length of a feature film,

01:43and sometimes Michael Radford's script, best known for the film version of 1984 and Il Postino,

01:48does show that strength, despite condensing some facts for dramatic purposes.

01:54There's lots of recognisable faces in the supporting cast,

01:56including Hugo Spear, Nathaniel Parker, and Niamh Cusack popping up in small roles.

02:01Sienna Gilleri and Ed Stoppard play Freddy's parents,

02:04with Til Schweiger playing a particularly odious Nazi high roller at the club.

02:09But Tonneson is very good in the lead role,

02:11especially once he starts working at the club and has to put money above his principles

02:16and spend his night serving Nazis who would kill him if they discovered his Jewish heritage,

02:21and his conflict and discomfort at having to stare death in the face and be polite.

02:27I think my main criticism of the film is that so much of it is focused on surviving

02:31that it sometimes forgets it's supposed to be also about how love and hope helped keep Noller alive,

02:37and that's particularly clear in the film's ending,

02:39which hastily wraps things up in voiceover narration about forgiveness

02:43and needed a few extra scenes to land emotionally.

02:47That said, Desperate Journey is a sincere attempt to make sure these important stories are never forgotten.

An extraordinary true WWII survival story | Desperate Journey (2025) (REVIEW) | Projector Shorts

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