• Director: Jesse Eisenberg
• Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg
• Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey
• Cinematography: Michal Dymek
• Editing: Robert Nassau
• Genre: Buddy road comedy-drama
• Runtime: 90 minutes

You wouldn’t think the combination of a comedy-drama and a tour of a concentration camp would work but under the deft writing of Jesse Eisenberg (who also directs and stars), the two opposing forces of humour and sorrow don’t swamp each other; the former is used effectively to balance out the heavy subject matter.

A pair of American Jewish cousins, David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin, often hilarious) embark on a trip to Poland to honour the memory of their recently deceased grandmother. As part of a group of fellow Jews, they visit the Grodzka Gate, the Old Jewish Cemetery and lastly, the Majdanek concentration camp. But for the boys, their final stop is to see their gran’s house to reconnect with their roots.

Benji is gregarious, with no filter and wears his heart on his sleeve. By contrast, David is more reserved, uptight and envious of Benji’s effortless ability to integrate himself socially. The duo are both grieving for their grandmother – David doesn’t display it as externally, but that’s the nature of grief; we all process it in our own unique ways, it doesn’t make the feeling less valid than someone who was bawling their eyes out.

Their pain is a microcosm of the horrors their forebears endured, which really puts things in perspective – what is a ‘real‘ pain exactly? As the bunch are travelling first class on a train, Benji makes a thoughtful point about how they live in luxury while their ancestors were treated like cattle, suffering in terrible agony during the Holocaust.

When the group visit the Warsaw Uprising Monument (which depicts courageous Polish World War II resistance fighters), the tour guide highlights the fact these bronze men are striking back, not being meekly led to their deaths – a reminder of a show of strength in the face of antisemitism.

An interesting look at personal anguish, well acted throughout by the two leads.

My rating: 8 / 10