Film Review: Searing Performances Invigorate ‘Walking with the Enemy’

CHICAGO – In movie land, the World War II Holocaust drama has been more personal – and in many ways more horrific – in our modern era. The latest film to tell a different story, from a different angle, is director Mark Schmidt’s “Walking with the Enemy.”

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The film is set near the end of the war, in Budapest, Hungary, which was a late territory takeover from the Nazi regime. As in the other takeovers, the Jewish population is marginalized and rounded up for extermination. The twist in this tale is that an underground movement fought back by actually impersonating the Nazi officers to redirect groups of Jewish captives, and set up a system to create passports to Switzerland and safety. The film is a fictionalized drama of these circumstances, but it faithfully resurrects the tension and terror having to do with the risk, and the excellent performances by Jonas Armstrong (as a member of the underground), Ben Kingsley, Simon Dutton and Hannah Tointon bring the era back to the important expectation of “never again.”

Elek Cohen (Jonas Armstrong) is the son of a rabbi in Budapest, Hungary. When the Nazis invade near the end of World War II in 1944, Elek is recruited to do hard labor as part of the marginalizing of the Jewish population. He escapes during an Allied raid and returns to Budapest, to find his family gone. In the background of all this is the surrender of Hungary to the Nazis, with local Regent Horthy (Ben Kingsley) ironing out the desperate terms.

Elek fights back within an underground resistance movement, and as their activities evolve, he even puts on a Nazi uniform and orders lower echelon guards to release large groups of Jewish prisoners to his “care.” He uses this influence to steer these groups through a trail to Switzerland through an old glass factory, which prints passports through director of operations Miklos Schoen (Simon Dutton). Miklos daughter Hannah (Hannah Tointon) also connects to Elek in profound ways.

“Walking with the Enemy” has a limited release, including Chicago, on April 25th. Featuring Jonas Armstrong, Simon Dutton, Ben Kingsley, Hannah Tointon and Burn Gorman. Screenplay by Kenny Golde. Directed by Mark Schmidt. Rated “PG-13”