THE SEARCH

an exquisite, tender film
The extraordinary talents of both Fred Zinnemann and Montgomery Clift combine to make this superb, and sadly neglected film a memorable experience. Filmed in the U.S. occupied zone of Berlin, it shows the devastated city in the aftermath of World War II, and the suffering of its lost and orphaned children.

The plot concerns a 9 year old boy, who has amnesia, and his relationship with an American soldier, and there is a secondary plot of his mother, who is looking for him. It is sentimental, but escapes being contrived or cloying, and I find myself repeatedly moved to tears with every viewing of it.

As with so many of Zinnemann's films, the black and white cinematography (by Emil Berna) has a simple, stark beauty. Both Zinnemann and Clift, whose incredibly sensitive portrayal of the soldier is riveting, were nominated for Oscars, but lost to John Huston (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) and Laurence Olivier (Hamlet).
A special juvenile Oscar went to Ivan Jandl, who so...

The Search for Self
When the Second World War in Europe had ended, the struggle for survival did not end with the suicide of Hitler. For hundreds of thousands of civilians, the war had separated families, with parents and children in search of each other. In THE SEARCH, director Fred Zinnemann presents a stark and depressing montage of a war blasted Berlin full of helpless and hapless lost souls. Jamilla Novotna is Mrs. Malik, a Czechk woman who has lost her husband to the war and is determined not to lose her son, Karil (Ivan Jandl), even though she has not seen him for many months nor does she have a reasonable basis to assume that he still lives. She trudges through one whistle stop after another never giving up. Novotna's performance is stunning on several levels. At no time does she come off as a self-deluded figure who ignores the lack of evidence for her son's survival. There are times when she is overwhelmed with despair but her inner sense of grittiness pushes her on. She is a kind woman...

The Finest Film on the Aftermath of WWII
The Search is the most relevant, effective and truthful film made about Europe in the aftermath of World War II. Fred Zinneman was inspired to cast the great opera singer, Jarmila Novotna, as the mother of a Czech intellectual family ruined by Hitler's war. The film, based on a true story, shows the tragic story of holocaust for millions in Europe, regardless of race or religion, and depicts the desperation and trauma of the survivors who became 'displaced persons'. Her husband and daughter killed in the camps, Novotna sets out after liberation to find her surviving young son. The boy, traumatised, wanders through the ruins of Central Europe where he is befriended by Montgomery Clift's sympathetic GI, in his extraordinary film debut. The innocent American must cope with the horror and cynicism of post-war Europe while, unbeknowns to him, the mother clings to faith in his lost son's survival and continues her search. The delicacy and perceptiveness of the treatment is exceptional,...

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