I'm gonna chalk this one up to false advertising. The logline for We Burn Like This begins thusly: "When 22 year-old Rae, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, is targeted by Neo-Nazis in Billings, Montana, her ancestors' trauma becomes real." I don't know about you, but something like that immediately put me in mind of something very pulpy, very poor taste, and very, very fun. I was picturing some sub-grindhouse thriller about a young jewish girl having to contend with the modern day neo-nazi movement...and dealing bloody mayhem on them.
In fairness, I should've read the full synopsis - "When 22 year-old Rae, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, is targeted by Neo-Nazis in Billings, Montana, her ancestors' trauma becomes real. As antisemitism continues to rise in the community, we follow Rae on her journey to forgive herself, her mother, and the broken world. Inspired by true events, this coming-of-age drama shows the inherited effects of historical trauma and the strength of survival and healing" - which frankly offers a much more accurate take on what this movie is; a very slow-burn, rambling, minimalist drama about this girl going on a very internalized journey of self-discovery.
Still, the fact that this movie isn't anything like Christopher Plummer's Remember - GREAT pulpy nonsense right there - is something that I cottoned onto real quick (even if I was thinking for a while, "So is this gonna be a low-key and grounded action thriller, a la A Vigilante or Catch the Fair One? I hope not, I didn't like either of those movies very much"). Which just leaves the movie as is, and honestly...not my speed. Even accounting for the fact that it's a much different kind of movie than what I was expecting, I don't think it's a particularly good example of that kind of movie; there's a difference between a slow-burn but interesting character study and a film that just feels like it's wasting your time, and way too often this felt like the latter.
Which sucks, because there is real value to films just nakedly talking about this stuff. The most effective scenes in the movie are the ones where the characters are in congregation, saying shabbat, and the film just...does that, for a while. Unfortunately, moments of quiet intimacy like that are few and far between in a movie that is permeated with so much dead air. And, on a personal note, I've long since come to the opinion that pulpy genre flicks are much better vehicles for social messaging than maudlin mumblecore movies; Remember with Christopher Plummer has more to say on the subject of jewish remembrance than this, is what I'm saying.
Plot summary
When 22 year-old Rae, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, is targeted by Neo-Nazis in Billings, Montana, her ancestors' trauma becomes real. As antisemitism continues to rise in the community, we follow Rae on her journey to forgive herself, her mother, and the broken world. Inspired by true events, this coming-of-age drama shows the inherited effects of historical trauma and the strength of survival and healing.
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honest REVIEW
Good story and very good
Good story and very good .It seemed like it had potential but the real issues were painted with cheap water color and never became apparent. Dang, I hated this so much. Waste of my life. Cinema is very common in India. Everyone is entertained by cinema and enjoys it for nearly three hours. Cinema came into existence in 1930. At first silent and black & white movies were made. After that coloured movies were made. Seeing a movie is not at all costly as compared to the other sources of entertainment. That is why everyone likes to see a film in a cinema hall. Cinema has its merits and demerits too. If a person sees a bad film then he can adopt all the bad points of the film. To see too much of films can spoil our eyesight, waste our money, time and energy. A person who becomes a film fan wants to see every film at any cost, which is not at all good. Now-a-days cinema has become very popular and it is a good source of entertainment.
Third
I watched this last night and I must say that I did not expect the story to be this interesting when it reached near the end. Without giving anything away I can say that those who are fans of gore and blood you will be disappointed as there is little to none, I was expecting it to be this....also, the 3 ladies are real lookers and played their part well.. good ending as well..
overall, if you cannot find a good movie., you may want to check it out...story is really easy to understand as well..This movie is a two star for me, in my own opinions the only reason why it's an ok average movie zombie flick is because not only is an remake from George A Romero dawn of the dead but also has some quotable moments and lines that keep the movie from being disastrous. Reason why is because if you look at some parts of the movie, and you pay attention to characters and their actions and you can honesty say that their parts and actions go unjustified in what their doing in some sequences of the movie; it's like the director or the script is almost certainly forcing itself through situations. Though the time was 2004 that it came out, it's amazing that the movie had some "ok" decent story telling, about how survivors are trying to be amongst one another and learn from each on how they all got there and ended up there. Another detail that might have boosted this movie up there is that when the characters get there at the mall, there is nothing to learn from the characters except obviously the main girl.