''Train of Life'' (in French ''Train de vie''; in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

''Trenul vieţii'') is a 1998 tragicomedy film by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

made in the French language. It tells the story of an

eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

an Jewish village's plan to escape

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

Plot

The film starts off with a man, named Schlomo (

Lionel Abelanski Lionel Abelanski (born 22 October 1964) is a French actor. Life and career Abelanski was born in Paris, France. He has appeared in television and film roles since 1989. In 1999 he was nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actor Th ...

), running crazily through a forest, with his voice playing in the background, saying that he has seen the horror of the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

in a nearby town, and he must tell the others. Once he gets into town, he informs the

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

, and together they run through the town and once they have got enough people together, they hold a town meeting. At first, many of the men do not believe the horrors they are being told, and many criticize Schlomo, for he is the town lunatic, and who could possibly believe him? But the rabbi believes him, and then they try to tackle the problem of the coming terrors. Amidst the pondering and the arguing, Schlomo suggests that they build a train, so they can escape by deporting themselves. Some of their members pretend to be Nazis in order to ostensibly transport them to a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

, when in reality, they are going to Palestine via Russia. Thus the Train of Life is born. On their escape route through rural Eastern Europe, the train sees tensions between its inhabitants, close encounters with real Nazis as well as Communist partisans, and fraternization with the Roma, until the community arrives just at the frontlines between German and Soviet fire. Its ends with the voice-over of Schlomo himself, who tells the stories of his companions after the arrival of the train in the Soviet Union: Some went on to Palestine, some stayed in the Soviet Union, and some even made it to America. As he is telling this, a cut to a close-up of his face happens as he says, "That is the true story of my

shtetl A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...

...", but then the camera makes a quick zoom-out, revealing him grinning and wearing prisoner's clothes behind the barbed wire of a

, and he ends with, "Ye nu, ''almost'' the true story!"

Cast

as Schlomo *

Rufus Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname (from Latin '' rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include: Given name Politicians * Rufus Ada George (born 1940), Nigerian politician * Rufus ...

as Mordechai *

Clément Harari Clément Harari (10 February 1919 – 16 February 2008) was an Egyptian-born French film and television actor.Bazin p.14 Selected filmography * '' It Happened in Paris'' (1952) * ''Ça va barder'' (1955) - Sammy Kern * ''Mon curé chez les pauv ...

as the Rabbi *

Michel Muller Michel Muller (born 9 September 1966) is a French actor, screenwriter and director. He is most recently known for playing Charles VIII of France in the television series ''The Borgias''. Biography Michel Muller was born 1966 in Vienna, Austri ...

as Yossi *

Agathe de la Fontaine Agathe de La Fontaine (born 27 March 1972) is a French actress. Her film roles include '' Train de vie'' (1998), which shared the 1999 Sundance World Cinema Audience Award with ''Run Lola Run'', and ''Love in Paris'', the sequel to ''9½ Weeks'' ...

as Esther *

Johan Leysen Johan Leysen (19 February 1950 – 30 March 2023) was a Belgian actor. He appeared in more than 130 films and television shows from 1977. He starred in the film '' De grens'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certai ...

as Schmecht *

Bruno Abraham-Kremer Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

as Yankele *

Marie-José Nat Marie-José Benhalassa (22 April 1940 – 10 October 2019), known professionally as Marie-José Nat, was a French actress. Among her notable works in cinema were the sequel films '' Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Jean-Marc'' and '' Anatomy ...

as Sura *

Gad Elmaleh Gad Elmaleh ( ar, جاد المالح, Latn, ar, Gād el-Māleḥ; born 19 April 1971) is a Moroccan-Canadian stand-up comedian and actor who achieved fame in France, Morocco and the United States. He is best known in the French-speaking wor ...

as Manzatou

Background

In 1996,

Roberto Benigni Roberto Remigio Benigni (; born 27 October 1952) is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. He gained international recognition for writing, directing and starring in the Holocaust comedy-drama film ''Life Is Beautiful'' (1997), f ...

, writer-director of ''Train of Lifes perceived competitor ''

Life Is Beautiful ''Life Is Beautiful'' ( it, La vita è bella, ) is a 1997 Italian comedy drama film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, who co-wrote the film with Vincenzo Cerami. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner, who emplo ...

'', had been sent the script to ''Train of Life'' and offered the role of village idiot Shlomo by writer-director Mihăileanu, but Benigni turned it down and afterwards went to write and direct ''Life Is Beautiful''. Mihăileanu refuses to publicly discuss whether Benigni has plagiarized his film, instead preferring to say that he and Benigni have made "two very different films". Writer-director Mihăileanu said that reporters came to ask him about Shlomo's ultimate fate which the film leaves open, whether he will perish during the war or if he will survive. Mihăileanu said, "At first, I didn't know how to answer this one. But then I found the right answer: It's up to you in the audience! If you'll forget Shlomo, he'll die. But if you'll remember him, he'll live forever."

Critical reception

''Train of Life'' holds a 64% 'Fresh' rating on review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. Assigning a more weighted average (based on 15 reviews),

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

assigns ''Train of Life'' with a metascore of 62, indicating "Generally favorable reviews," with the following summary: "This haunting and powerful comedy is both the story of a village's dream and a suspenseful tale of great escape." Many reviewers at the time drew comparisons between ''Train of Life'' and its contemporary competitor films ''

'' and ''

Jakob the Liar ''Jakob the Liar'' is a 1999 American war comedy-drama film directed by Peter Kassovitz, produced by Steven Haft, Marsha Garces Williams and written by Kassovitz and Didier Decoin. The film is based on the book of the same name by Jurek Becker ...

'', because all three were released to North American theaters in 1999, but ''Train of Life'' had been the first in production.Berardinelli, James (1999)
''Train of Life (Train de Vie)''
ReelViews.com While ''Jakob the Liar'' was near-universally panned, critics were divided upon which out of the other two worked better as a " Holocaust comedy". While Desson Howe of the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' called ''Train of Life'' a "less-than-scintillating spin on ''Life Is Beautiful''",

James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...

of ''ReelViews'' found the film's comedy "too 'French' in nature — which is to say that it tends towards silliness and slapstick." Rob Blackwelder of SlicedWire (while not opposed to the idea of Holocaust tragicomedies in general) found each of the three films suffering from their distinct own flaws.Blackwelder, Rob
''Another derailed Holocaust comedy''
SPLICEDwire Jim Sullivan of the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' (without mentioning ''Jakob the Liar'') found that it "works much better"Sullivan, Jim (1999)
''On "Train," life's even more beautiful''
Boston Globe, November 11, 1999 (Wayback Machine snapshot, dated January 20, 2000) than ''Life Is Beautiful''. Jean Oppenheimer of the ''

Dallas Observer ''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas, Texas. The ''Observer'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...

'' praised ''Train of Life'' as being "far superior to either"''Ha-Ha-Holocaust''
Dallas Observer, January 6, 2000 of the other two, and Henry Cabot Beck of ''Film.com'' went as far as comparing it to Spielberg's

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning 1993 Holocaust drama, calling ''Train of Life'' "every bit as reverent as ''

Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film f ...

'' and no less successful" and contending about its two 1999 competitors that "neither film was as well directed or acted" as ''Train of Life''. Stefan Steinberg of the

World Socialist Web Site The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) is the website of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). It describes itself as an "online newspaper of the international Trotskyist movement". The WSWS publishes articles and analys ...

claimed that ''Train of Life'' is "a far better film" than ''Life Is Beautiful'', being impressed by "the immense affection and care with which Mihaileanu has recreated the life and self deprecating humour of the Jewish villagers." Several American reviewers saw a distinct similarity between Mihăileanu's filmic yarn and the mood and humor found in the writings of

Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer ( yi, יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער; November 11, 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Polish-born American Jewish writer who wrote and published first in Yiddish and later translated himself into English with the help ...

Sholem Aleichem ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Pereiaslav, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = New York City, U.S. , occupation = Writer , nationality = , period = , genre = Novels, sh ...

.Karten, Harvey S. (1999)
''Train de vie (1998)''
IMDB (originally posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup)Savlov, Marc (1999)
''Train of Life''

Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

, December 24, 1999 Many reviewers made favorable comparisons to both

Ernst Lubitsch Ernst Lubitsch (; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as ...

's 1942 version or

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

's 1983 version of ''To Be Or Not To Be'' (citing the same clever wit), positive and negative comparisons to Brooks's 1968 '' The Producers'' (calling it either better, worse, or "just as bad" as Brooks's farce), or negatively compared the oftentimes more buffoonish than scary Nazis in the film to the TV series '' Hogan's Heroes''.Bertrand, Merle (2000)
''TRAIN DE VIE (TRAIN OF LIFE)''
Film Threat, March 16, 2000Kaltenbach, Chris (1999)
''Train of Life'' never becomes ''Beautiful''
''Baltimore Sun'', November 12, 1999

Review quotes

Awards

Among other American and international awards, ''Train of Life'' won both the ''FIPRESCI Prize for Best First Feature'' and the ''Anicaflash Prize'' at the

55th Venice International Film Festival The 55th annual Venice International Film Festival was held between 3 and 13 September 1998. The Golden Lion was awarded to ''Così ridevano'' by Gianni Amelio. Jury The following people comprised the 1998 jury: * Ettore Scola (Italy) (head of ...

, the ''World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic'' at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, and the ''Best Foreign Language Film Award'' at the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards 1999.

References

External links

*
''Train de Vie (Train of Life) (1998)''
on

''Train of Life''
on

{{Radu Mihăileanu 1998 films 1990s war comedy-drama films Tragicomedy films Films about Jews and Judaism Films directed by Radu Mihăileanu Films scored by Goran Bregović Films shot in Bucharest 1990s French-language films French war comedy-drama films Holocaust films Films about refugees Rail transport films Romanian comedy-drama films Films about Romani people 1998 comedy-drama films Romanian war films 1990s French films