The children of Villa Emma Movie Explained
Vienna, 1941: Since the National Socialists occupied the city, the Jewish population there is no longer safe. But what to do? In order to at least be able to bring children to safety, an aid organization is working on bringing them to Palestine, where they can start a new life. Among them is 14-year-old Betty Favoriten (Sophie Stockinger), who, at her father's request, is supposed to get away from the danger zone. But the path is not easy. Josko Indig (Ludwig Trepte) and Helga Herrnstadt (Nina Proll), who have to lead the group, find it difficult to take responsibility for dozens of children and young people. When they reach the Italian village of Nonantola, they can take a breather and gather their strength in the empty Villa Emma. They will need these too, because there is still war going on around them...
A villa as a refuge in a world of horror
It's still a number that's hard to imagine: around six million Jews, men and women, old people and children, were murdered in just a few years. The fact that there weren't more is thanks to the courage of individuals who helped escape or at least hid those being persecuted. Many films and series have been made on the subject. The most famous example is, of course, Schindler's List, which became an unexpected blockbuster in 1993. More recent is The Zoo Director's Wife (2017), where a zoo is converted into a hiding place. Transatlantic (2023), on the other hand, tells of an organization that was supposed to enable important personalities to escape to the USA. Compared to these star-studded titles, The Children of Villa Emma from 2016 is a whole lot smaller; the television film cannot boast of comparable names.
But that doesn't make the story any less worth telling. This makes it clear what hardships it was to have to flee through Europe during the Holocaust. Even outside of Germany, you couldn't really feel safe anywhere; the enemy or people who collaborated with them threatened to appear everywhere. In The Children of Villa Emma, according to the title, the time in the villa takes up the main part of the historical drama. But there is a longer passage beforehand that tells of the escape. There will also be one later, as the property became a refuge for the children and young people, where they could simply be themselves for a short time. But her story didn't end there.
Solid drama
During this main phase, the film is somewhat reminiscent of its colleague The Children of Windermere, which is being broadcast again on the occasion of a Holocaust memorial series. Both deal with the difficulty of living the normal life one deserves as a young person in a world of terror. For example, it's about romantic feelings, but also about the loss of loved ones. Of course, things aren't as intense as in the above drama in The Children of Villa Emma. It still makes a difference whether you are fleeing the genocide or have experienced it yourself in the concentration camps. But there are heartwarming fates here too. Betty becomes an identification figure that is used as an example. She had to leave everything behind, home and family, to go to a foreign country with strangers.
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There would have been more such personal stories. Instead, there is a surprising amount of talk about the adults and their attempts to somehow hold the group together. For example, there are several conflicts with Marko Schoky (Laurence Rupp), an opportunistic survivalist for whom pragmatism is more important than morality. This is also an interesting topic when it comes to what is allowed and what is not allowed in such exceptional situations. The Children of Villa Emma only scratches the surface, the discussions are already over before they have really begun. But even if there was more to it, this is a solid drama that, with its historical setting, has a lot to say even to a modern audience.
