[THE FLAT opens in Cleveland on Friday November 16th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre.]
Review by Marcie Gainer
THE FLAT is a very personal story about a Jewish family’s history and the quest of a grandson to uncover deep family secrets that were relatively unknown until the death of his grandmother, a German Jew. The Israeli writer/director and grandson, Arnon Goldfinger, stumbles upon Nazi propaganda while cleaning out his grandparents’ flat after the death of his grandmother, Gerda Tuchler. The newspaper, Der Angriff, tells a story of a high ranking Nazi, Leopold von Mildenstein and his trip to Palestine. Within the publication, there are photos of Gerda and Kurt Tuchler, Goldfinger’s grandparents, accompanying Mildenstein and his wife. This piques Goldfinger’s interest and he becomes determined to find out why his grandparents would befriend a Nazi, let alone travel with one.
Goldfinger discovers that correspondence between the two couples had ceased during the war but, to everyone’s surprise, the friendship was rekindled after the war. Why would the Tuchler’s want to be friends with a Nazi criminal? Why would they accompany Mildenstein on a trip to Palestine where he was assessing the possibility of deporting Jews? These were only a few questions that Goldfinger was determined to try to answer.
Goldfinger discovers that correspondence between the two couples had ceased during the war but, to everyone’s surprise, the friendship was rekindled after the war. Why would the Tuchler’s want to be friends with a Nazi criminal? Why would they accompany Mildenstein on a trip to Palestine where he was assessing the possibility of deporting Jews? These were only a few questions that Goldfinger was determined to try to answer.
