Fateless

Marcell Nagy portrays Gyuri Köves of Budapest, in Fateless

It is difficult to put into words the stunning work of art that is the movie Fateless. One cannot leave this movie without feeling profoundly enlightened, realizing life is astonishing, random, and precarious all at the same time. Fateless is as much a movie as it is an experience. Based on the book Sorstalanság (Fatelessness) by Imre Kertész, Fateless is one story of the Holocaust as seen through the eyes of a teenager. The narrator/protagonist, Gyuri Köves, considers himself a normal Hungarian, but soon realizes the world only sees him as a Jew.

Visually, this movie surpasses all other Holocaust-related tales, with Budapest and the several concentration camps each exuding their own special character. While not shot in black-and-white, for much of the movie, little color is evident, and purposely so; the human drama fittingly remains at the center of this must-see movie. The sensational soundtrack will linger with moviegoers long after they leave the theater. The profound, some may say startling, conclusion of Gyuri at the movie's end, is as refreshing and original as the movie itself.

Fateless is in Hungarian and German, with English subtitles. It is currently only playing in New York City, but will reach other cities around the country in February.