And Along Come Tourists

And Along Come Tourists is a poignant German drama film that deftly interweaves themes of memory, guilt, cross-cultural understanding, and the weight of history. Directed by Robert Thalheim and starring Alexander Fehling, Ryszard Ronczewski, and Barbara Wysocka, the film delves into the heart of Poland's Auschwitz concentration camp, presenting it not as a relic of the past but as a site of historical memory that continues to exist and influence the present.

The film features Fehling in the role of Sven Lehnert, a German twenty-something who chooses to do his civil service in Auschwitz, a state memorial site. He is tasked with cloakroom duties and assists in the curation and conservation of artifacts that speak to the harrowing personal stories of Holocaust victims. It's a demanding role that exposes him to the chilling anonymity of the place, symbolized by mountains of eyewear, leather suitcases, and a terrifyingly endless array of human hair behind the museum’s glass showcases. But it soon becomes clear that this isn't a simple story of a young man's grim cross-cultural exchange. At Auschwitz, history is inescapable, and Sven is caught right in the symbolic crosshairs of past and present.

Ryszard Ronczewski embodies the role of Stanislaw Krzeminski, an 85-year-old Polish Auschwitz survivor who lives on the outskirts of the camp and makes a living as a 'tour guide.' He is a prickly, tough-minded man who rustles unsettling anecdotes from his survivor memory bank. The tension between him and Sven is palpable from the start, but a grudging bond slowly develops between the old man, with his firsthand experience of Auschwitz's horrors, and the German intruder. It's an unexpected friendship, founded less on shared experiences than on individual sympathies and the universal human need to make connections. Here, potentially clichéd narrative developments are underserved by quietly moving performances and a script that insists on undercutting sentimentality with hard-bitten reality.

Although not defenseless, Stanislaw is not painted as an archetypal victim/hero of Holocaust cinema. He is flawed, morally ambiguous, and richly alive. He is infuriating, but he also commands respect, and his survival story is a testament to the human will to survive. However, crucially, he is not the only Polish character in the film. This is where the brilliant Barbara Wysocka steps in, playing the role of Ania, a lovely and lively Polish woman who works in the camp's information center and becomes romantically involved with Sven.

Ania's presence brings a much-needed beat to the narrative, providing a touch of romance style to contrast the traumatic historical context. Through her, we get a sense of the modern young Polish citizen – curious, open-minded, and unbowed by the weight of history. Her relationship with Sven, the German, is an engaging subplot that delivers an essential perspective on how the younger generation negotiates Europe's troubled past, yet never feels out of place in the somber surroundings of the setting.

The direction of the film masterfully brings the narrative together, never resorting to easy sentimentality or trumped-up melodrama. The design of the film is unsentimentally naturalistic, with a haunting use of the Auschwitz site and no sign of a Hollywood set. The chilling winter backdrop also is used skilfully, underscoring the spartan existence of those who inhabit this site and reminding viewers of the merciless winters faced by those stronger by the Holocaust. Moreover, it explores the intergenerational memory and culpability of its historical backdrop with sensitivity and nuance.

And Along Come Tourists is notably a film about a place as much as it is about people. It elevates sites of cruelty into monuments, into sites of primary historical memory. However, the remarkable achievement of the film is that it doesn't abandon the individuals within that—they laugh, they argue, they fall in love. They hurt, they heal, and most importantly, they remember, ensuring the echoes of the past resonate into the present and future.

A film of understated dignity and moral complexity, And Along Come Tourists prompts important questions about the nature of remembrance and the ways we try to make sense of a historically dark past. By blending sensitive performances with a somber atmosphere, it generates a profound emotional response, making it an unforgettable viewing experience that continues to resonate long after the credits roll. This film is a poignant reminder that history isn't simply something that occurs but is a constant presence that influences who we are today.