Review by Tim-O
Dir. By Milan Cieslar
Starring: Monika Hilmerova
(in Czech with English subs)
When I sat down to watch “Spring of Life”, I expected to see a Nazi exploitation film akin to sleaze classics like the Ilsa films. I couldn’t have been more wrong. “Spring of Life” is a straight historical drama with very little sex and violence and plays more like an R rated Lifetime Channel Original Movie.
“Spring of Life” is the story of a young Czech woman named Gretka who is selected by occupying Nazi officials to take part in the Lebensborn “master race” breeding program which took place just before and during WWII. She is selected because of her supposedly perfect Aryan physical characteristics. Gretka, a devout Christian, is convinced by a trusted teacher that participating in the program is a great honor and her ”holy duty”. She is sent to Isolde Spa, one of the retreat houses dedicated to the training, education and care of these genetically “perfect” young women and their future Nazi offspring. After some time, the girls are given some fertility drugs and paired with Nazi soldiers and officers for “breeding”. Once born, the babies are given limited time with their mothers and are eventually whisked away to be adopted into Nazi families to be raised as such. There’s also a prominent subplot concerning a Polish-Jew caretaker of the spa that Gretka falls in love with that adds a couple of nice twists to the story.
Monika Hilmerova is excellent as Gretka and looks more than a little like a slightly younger Scarlett Johansson to boot. However, as I alluded to, don’t expect lesbian scenes or whips and torture. There is some nudity and a little violence, but it’s never really exploitive in nature. In fact, what I found interesting about this movie was a noticable lack of Nazi shooting people in the head at every turn. Nor was the Isolde Spa portrayed as a typical women-in-prison hell hole. For the most part, the women are treated and cared for pretty well, all things considering. It’s doesn’t even give you the sense that the women are really doing anything against their will. Amazingly, after watching a little documentary included in the special features, it seems this “good” treatment is historically accurate. The real villains of the movie are the Nazi leaders who are responsible for implementing and overseeing the program, but they are rarely seen.
Although it’s centered around Gretka, “Spring of Life” is a film that seems to be trying to show everyday people trying to quietly survive in Nazi occupied Europe. It’s mildly interesting, and the acting is top notch, but it’s surprisingly dull on an emotional level. Considering the subject matter, “Spring of Life” had all the potential to be a compelling and fascinating movie. Unfortunately, I watched the movie not necessarily bored, but certainly not compelled or fascinated either. 4/10