In Another Lifetime (Vielleicht in Einem Anderen Leben)

An EPO Film, Mythberg Films and Filmline production. Produced by Dieter Pochlatko, Nikolaus Wisiak, Jozsef Berger, Arno Ortmair. Directed by Elisabeth Scharang. Screenplay, Silke Hassler, Peter Turrini, Scharang, based on the stage play "Jedem das Seine" by Hassler and Turrini.With: Ursula Strauss, Johannes Krisch, Peter Vegh, Orsolya Toth, Franziska Singer, August Schmolzer, Rafael Goldwaser, Thomas Franzel, Rainer Egger, Laszlo Nadasi, Ildiko Dobos, Kalman Koblicska, Joachim Bissmeier, Alexander Meile. (German, Hungarian dialogue)Austrian docu/telepic helmer Elisabeth Scharang's first theatrical feature, microcosmic WWII drama "In Another Lifetime," focuses on a group of Hungarian Jews en route to a death camp, and their reluctant keepers, who both manage to re-awaken the humanity in each other. Based on a play, the pic can't always escape a lingering air of theatricality -- particularly since much of the action takes place in a single interior -- yet it nevertheless makes a poignant, sometimes poetical impression. Exposure will be modest outside home territories, with quality tube sales likely. The film's most cinematic passages are at the start, as a series of sweeping aerial shots locate a bedraggled group being marched across the Austrian countryside. When a military pilot above absently tosses a gum wrapper out his window, it floats down to land beside one exhausted deportee, for whom its lingering scent now constitutes a rare luxury. A dazed, elderly captive hobbles off into a nearby field, and is casually shot dead by the bored young SS officer (Alexander Meile) in command. That leaves 19 still alive in the rapidly fading group. While the officer makes himself at home for an evening or two in the manse of local gentry, he has the prisoners locked in the barn of villager Stefan (Johannes Krisch), who's been surly, and wife Traudl (Ursula Strauss) grimly quiet, since their only son was killed in battle. Nevertheless, some residual empathy stirs in her when she realizes their unwanted guests are collapsing from lack of food and water. Despite orders not to interfere, she and bubbly young hireling Poldi (Franziska Singer) enter the barn with such provisions as they can scrounge up. Stunned by this simple kindness, operatic tenor Lou (Peter Vegh) -- still clad in the tatters of the stage costume he was wearing when arrested -- rashly proposes the prisoners stage an operetta as thanks to their hosts. Never mind that none of the others are professional performers, or that this grandiose notion never seems to encompass more than rehearsal of a single waltz tune; it's the thought that counts. Already on questionable ground with the Nazi-sympathizing townsmen for harboring Jews (albeit against his will), Stefan is at first enraged by his wife's actions. But after a few swigs from a hidden beer stash, he's in the mood to offer fine accompaniment on accordion to the prison band. Meanwhile, news ebbs through that Berlin has been captured, and the war may finally be coming to an end. But a cruelly sobering final twist is followed by a memorably stark single-shot epilogue (though one whose precise significance might escape some viewers). Scharang's directorial restraint wisely downplays the maudlin "Let's put on a show" uplift of the narrative by observing myriad small, everyday moments that take us outside the barn as often as possible. Well-acted pic is modestly scaled but nicely crafted in all departments.Camera (color), Jean-Claude Larrieu; editor, Alarich Lenz; music, Thomas Jarmer; production designer, Alexandra Maringer; costume designer, Margit Salzinger; sound (Dolby Digital), William Edouard Franck; re-recording mixer, Ralph Thiekkotter; assistant director, Fritz Noltmann; casting, Carmen Loley, Markus Schleinzer. Reviewed at San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, July 26, 2011. (Also in Munich Film Festival.)Running time: 92 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com