By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB
Los Alamos

Now playing at SALA is a film worth your time, the “based on a true” story of a man whose early life he kept secret for sixty years.

Herbert Heller, played by Stephen Lang (Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar), is told by his oncologist that he should put his affairs in order. Even as he doesn’t tell his family this news, he has never told them that he survived Nazi concentration camps as a boy. But now, he commits to tell his survivor story to a project filming interviews with Holocaust survivors. 

Abby (played by Elsie Fisher), a young intern on the project, is left to interview Herbert; over several halting interviews they discover that they both share the experience of death and tragedy. This connection allows each of them the trust they need to let their secrets out. 

The interview in front of the camera cuts away to flashbacks of Prague when the Nazis took over Czechoslovakia. Heller was the youngest son in the family of a well-off Jewish engineer. His father does not believe they have anything to fear from occupation until they do. But he remains encouraging for Herbert well into the family’s imprisonment at Terezin, Auschwitz, and beyond. We see much of this story in the flashbacks.

As Heller tells his story, Abby asks if he ever felt any guilt that he might be the reason they died. Admitting her own sense of guilt, Abby eventually she tells what drove her to attempt taking her own life. How do you move on with your life? “You forgive yourself,” he answers. 

This writer has toured Auschwitz-Birkenau and other concentration camps; I’ve made myself watch films like Schindler’s List and Zone of Interest. We must never forget, nor allow the Holocaust to be forgotten. It is the well-documented worst of what humanity is capable of, but in it are small stories of the best of humanity, too.  Compared to such films, The Optimist is much easier to watch, telling truth but not bludgeoning the viewer with it.

The film ends as uplifting, as Heller finds himself impacting the lives of many troubled teens, kids who have experienced some terrible things. He also finds a way to let his family know the back story they never heard, from this man they thought they knew so well.

The Optimist is one hour and forty-two minutes long and is likely rated PG-13. Due to the violence that is insinuated but not shown, the film is not as traumatic as it could be for teens or even pre-teens. I think this lesser-known film is well worth viewing locally; SALA is offering it through next weekend. Before you go, check their website for the show times at: https://sala.losalamos.com/tickets.