Adam Resurrected
has an unusual and memorable opening. The camera is close on Adam’s face, and
his left eye shifts to either side while his right eye remains stationary. It
is humorously unsettling, and so a perfect image to begin the tale. He speaks
fondly of the past, like a dream, and we see some footage from perhaps a better
time. There is something dreamlike and imaginary about this film, and perhaps
that itself is an answer regarding how people deal with survivor’s guilt. The present
in this film is 1961, and Adam is in Israel. He is playful and familiar with
his landlady, but that hasn’t kept her from calling the authorities on him,
leading us to wonder just how she got the bruise on her neck. He is returned to
an institution in the desert, a place, as Adam tells us in voice over, that is “a home for the survivors of the Nazi camps.”
The shot of the gate in the middle of the desert is rather funny and eerie, a
dreamlike image itself. And we see that Adam was able to get out of his
handcuffs during the drive, just one of the early hints that Adam has some
unusual talents.
Adam may have trouble dealing with life in the present, but he is also having trouble coming to grips with his past. As he looks at a model train, his memory takes him back to another train, where he huddled in a corner with his wife and children. By the way, the trips to the past are shown in black and white (at least up through the war). And we see the life he led up to that point in short bursts, beginning in Berlin in 1926, where he is performing on stage in a small club, a Nazi in the audience laughing and enjoying his performance. As the year changes to 1930, Adam’s career has taken off and he is performing on a larger stage. Adam has a psychic gift, and is able to learn about a person by touching his or her clothing, and on this night he reveals that his “volunteer” in the audience had been planning on taking his own life that very evening. In 1936, Adam is told by the Nazis that he is no longer allowed to perform. “I am not political,” he says to them. “Everyone loves the circus.” His act is a family affair, with both daughter and wife taking part, and we know that all of them are in danger. When in 1944 he arrives at the concentration camp with his family, he meets Commandant Klein (Willem Dafoe), the man who had attended an earlier performance, and who delights in tormenting him, treating him like a dog, taking him as his personal pet. Playing that demeaning role is what keeps Adam alive.
Interestingly, Adam now in turn treats Gina Grey (Ayelet Zurer), a nurse at the institute, in a similar fashion, having trained her to roll over and yelp like a variety of dogs. But Gina is no victim here, for she takes equal part in the game. And she is no fool, knowing at one point that Adam has used her in order to take the keys to a certain room that has aroused his curiosity. That room houses a special patient brought there by Dr. Nathan Gross (Derek Jacobi), a boy who himself was raised like a dog. Adam is at first jealous of the boy, for the boy is crazier than he is, and, Adam believes, is Dr. Gross’ new star patient. But eventually Adam begins to help the boy. That relationship is interesting, but what is far more engaging is the collection of adults who have been brought to the asylum, all survivors of the Holocaust, and the way they deal with or avoid dealing with the horrors of their experience. They all deliver believable performances, but it is Jeff Goldblum’s work here that especially makes this film worth watching. His is a tremendous performance that viewers are unlikely to forget.
Special Features
The Blu-ray contains some bonus material. Adam Resurrected: Behind The Scene features interviews with cast and crew members, including Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Derek Jacobi, Hana Laszlo, director Paul Schrader, producer Ehud Bleiberg, writer Yoram Kaniuk, screenwriter Noah Stollman and costume designer Inbal Shuki. Jeff Goldblum mentions that viewers know everything that goes on inside the institute is imaginary, for there was no such place at that time. He also praises the actor who played the boy, and talks about the importance of doing his own best possible work in this role. Yoram Kaniuk talks about his brief appearance in the film. This feature is approximately twenty-four minutes.
There is footage from Q&A at the Haifa International Film Festival. The panel includes Paul Schrader, Yoram Kaniuk and Ehud Bleisberg. Paul Schrader talks about the challenge of adapting a novel for the screen. Yoram Kaniuk is funny as he relates his response to watching the filming. Ehud Bleisberg gives a bit of the history of the attempts at turning the book into a film. They also talk about the film’s setting. This feature is approximately an hour and twelve minutes.
The disc includes an audio commentary track by Paul Schrader, in which he talks a bit about the book and its initial controversy. He also talks about the special look of the flashback scenes, and says the film didn’t get the initial reception he had expected. He also talks about Jeff Goldblum’s performance, and says that Jeff committed the script to memory a year before shooting. The Blu-ray also contains nine and a half minutes of deleted scenes, including an interesting scene with Adam and Commandant Klein, and variations on what leads to Adam going out into the desert. There is an extended scene with Adam and Nathan Gross. The film’s trailer is also included in the bonus material.
This Blu-ray edition of Adam Resurrected was released on June 22, 2021 through MVD Visual as part of its Marquee Collection.
