Starring Martin Gilbert, Stephanie Nyombayire
Directed by Michael King
Expectations: Moderate.
The atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II are among the most egregious crimes against humanity in the history of the world. This is an undeniable fact, and the stories of the survivors are equally undeniable and powerful. It’s impossible not to be moved when those who fled the Nazi regime as children return as aged adults to where their visa was stamped by a kindhearted diplomat. But as powerful as these stories and these specific moments are, The Rescuers still feels like it needs to handhold its audience a bit with highly emotional, overbearing music.
This was my main problem with the presentation of The Rescuers, as the music feels completely unnecessary for the film to work. On top of that, something was wrong with the sound mix on the screener I received for review, so whenever music was playing (which is almost constantly) the narration was nearly inaudible unless I cranked the sound way past comfortable levels. Clearly this was not the director’s intent so I will try to look past this technical issue in reviewing the film, but I can’t deny that it definitely clouded my experience with the film.