Bau: Artist at War tells the true love story of Joseph and Rebecca Bau, two Polish Jews who found love in the most unlikely of places—a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. The film has a few content issues parents will want to be aware of, including partial (nonsexual) nudity, some suggestive material and grim-but-not-gratuitous violence. But for mature viewers, the film presents positive messages about humor, hope and love.
Kraków, 1942.
Joseph Bau is an artist. He is a prisoner—a Jew living in Nazi-occupied Poland. He is known throughout the Kraków ghetto for his creative talents, which he uses to mock the occupying German forces and to forge documents so that some of his people may escape their captors’ ever-tightening iron grip.
He is a man of unwavering optimism and hope, even in the face of a growing darkness.
But Joseph’s hopefulness is put to the test when he, his family and many other Jews are shipped off to the Płaszów concentration camp. It’s under the supervision of the sadistic Amon Goeth and his equally cruel lieutenant, Franz Gruen.
Still, even there, Joseph encourages his fellow inmates, reminding them that there are some things that the Nazis can never take away: their “laughter, joy, [their] spirits.”
Remarkably, amid the horrors of Płaszów, Joseph may have found one more thing his captors cannot steal or quell. It’s a radiant flower blooming defiantly in a grim and colorless world: love.
Tel Aviv, 1971.
Joseph Bau is still an artist. He is free—a resident of the newfound State of Israel. He’s become famous for works that include, among other things, illustrations that caricature the inhuman events and conditions of his time in the Płaszów concentration camp.
But he is by now a man weary of the world, especially in the face of continued injustice.
War criminals still walk free, all these years later. Chief among them (in Joseph’s mind, at least) is Franz Gruen, his tormentor at Płaszów, and the man who murdered his father. A lawyer approaches Joseph, hoping he will testify against Gruen. But what’s the use? Joseph thinks. After all, the former Nazi has already been acquitted twice.
And yet … once, long ago, Joseph told a fellow prisoner that, if he wanted to see the Nazis answer for their crimes, he would have to survive.
Joseph survived. And if he can find the strength to relive the terrors of his past, he might be able to give his people hope—and deliver something that Franz Gruen has long avoided.
Justice.
Even a small light shines brightly when surrounded by darkness. In Bau: Artist at War, the surroundings we witness are some of the darkest seen in modern history, and so the light that shines through is all the more powerful.
Several characters perform self-sacrificial deeds, putting their lives at risk to save others. Joseph uses his artistry to forge documents—these documents are used by those resisting the Nazis to help Jews avoid slaughter or even escape. Joseph volunteers to be whipped in place of his father, something that potentially saves the man’s life, given the severity of the punishment. He gives hope to those around him through cheerfulness and humor despite dire circumstances. In one instance, he convinces a despairing Jewish teen not to commit suicide and instead to survive in order to seek justice.
Rebecca, a young Jewish woman and Joseph’s love interest, is constantly helping people. She cares for the sick and wounded, steals bread to feed her fellow malnourished prisoners and helps save people marked for execution.
Both Joseph and Rebecca are willing to lay down their lives for one another. They comfort and encourage each other in times of doubt.
The German industrialist, Oskar Schindler, is depicted in the film, and we see his part in the efforts that saved over 1,000 Jewish lives. Someone sacrifices his life for another. A man expresses pride in his son for helping their people.
Joseph’s mother prays on a few occasions, beginning with the words “Baruch atah, Adonai” (“Blessed are You, the Eternal”). After witnessing acts of fatal violence, a few people use the expression, “Blessed is the judge of truth.” A woman wonders why God would allow the suffering perpetrated by the Nazi regime.
Someone refers to Oskar Schindler as a goy (non-Jewish) messiah—but only in a physical sense. Schindler encourages a character by saying , “Miracles do happen.”
Someone mentions a Shabbat blessing. People pray before receiving a meal. A man touches a mezuzah on a doorframe then kisses his fingers. Someone mentions “the spirits.” A woman is called a “gift from God.” A woman marries a man and a woman in lieu of a rabbi.
Someone says that “art is a reflection of the soul.”
Bau: Artist at War is, in many ways, a love story. Specifically, the love that bloomed between Joseph Bau and Rebecca Tennenbaum in the Płaszów concentration camp. We see many scenes of this surprising romance, as Joseph and Rebecca come to know and respect each other and, eventually, fall in love.
Throughout their courtship, Joseph and Rebecca flirt and share some passionate kisses. He proposes to Rebecca, and they are married in a Jewish ceremony. We catch a glimpse of their wedding night—in the women’s barracks of the concentration camp—which shows the couple kissing and covered with blankets (the only skin we see is Rebecca’s bare shoulder).
One non-Jewish prisoner in the camp is insinuated to be gay, saying he was put into the camp because the “[Nazis] don’t approve of who I choose to love.”
In one scene, prisoners are stripped naked and exposed to the elements. There is some partial nudity, but the most critical bits are covered.
A water faucet is stylized to represent a man’s genitals. There is a joke about a person’s sexuality. Someone makes a crude comment about Adolf Hitler’s anatomy. We hear about a Nazi officer’s prostitute. A man offers to massage a woman’s feet, and she reluctantly agrees.
Drawings show a man’s bare backside.
Even the most restrained depiction of the Holocaust comes with, at the very least, some seriously heavy implications of violence. And while Bau: Artist of War doesn’t depict these atrocities as graphically something like Schindler’s List (which also centers around the atrocities in Płaszów) might have done, the violence we encounter here is still undeniably grim.
Several Jewish prisoners are shot and killed. One such victim lies just out of sight—but we see a puddle of blood around that person’s body. A woman is beaten to death. Somoene has died (perhaps by suicide), his body tangled in a barbed and electrified fence. Joseph is whipped, and blood can be seen on his back as he recoils in pain.
As mentioned above, male prisoners are stripped and taken to the showers before being forced to stand naked in the freezing cold; several of the prisoners die from exposure. An officer slams a woman’s head onto a table.
Nazis threaten their captives. Explosions rock a city, forcing the citizenry to flee to bomb shelters. Someone contemplates suicide. Child prisoners are seen. Soldiers forcibly remove Jewish people from their homes amid gunshots and screams. We see brief footage of a man being hanged. Someone wishes he would have killed another character when he had the chance.
Some of Joseph Bau’s artwork is used in the film. It often depicts harrowing events or representations of what he witnessed during the war.
We hear two uses of the s-word. God’s name is abused once. Additionally, we hear a couple uses of “a–” and one instance of “d—.” There are a few crude comments regarding male anatomy.
Characters smoke cigarettes and drink. Oskar Schindler frequently charms Nazi officers with alcohol.
Joseph’s father initially rebukes his son for helping the resistance against the Nazis, believing the Jews should give the Nazis no reason to harm them. Joseph draws cartoons that mock the Nazis. One cartoon shows a bird defecating on a Nazi officer’s head. Another depicts Hitler’s face on sheets of toilet paper.
Amon Goeth discusses the “Jewish problem.” A Black man is imprisoned in a concentration camp because of the color of his skin. We see Nazi salutes, symbols and propaganda.
Dialogue references typhus, cholera and “mass diarrhea.” Someone lies to goad another person into a confession. A man quotes Friedrich Nietzsche. Someone has brief hallucinations.
Joseph says he hates Franz Gruen. Gruen tries to justify his abhorrent actions by saying he was just “following orders.”
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21, ESV).
That was the passage of Scripture that came to mind while I watched Bau: Artist at War. The love story of Joseph and Rebecca Bau is a remarkable one, brought to life in this film. The story doesn’t shy away from the horrors that the Jewish people endured during World War II, but it also communicates the message that love can stem even the darkest tide of human evil.
Love never fails. Why? Because God is love. A love made manifest in Jesus Christ, who has overcome the world and all its evils that we might be saved.
God loves us with a love more perfect than we could hope to muster in this fallen world. But in His goodness, He has given us a foretaste of what is to come, part of which is the love we get to share with others. That is exemplified in Bau: Artist at War. Joseph and Rebecca’s love and marriage in the most unlikely, the most humanely desolate place is a testament to the power of love—and to the God who “first loved us.”
Make no mistake, Bau: Artist at War is a challenging watch, based on its setting alone. And there are some content issues to navigate along the way. But for families with children old enough to handle the film’s subject matter, Bau: Artist at War presents a powerful message about humor, hope and love.
Bret loves a good story—be it a movie, show, or video game—and enjoys geeking out about things like plot and story structure. He has a blast reading and writing fiction and has penned several short stories and screenplays. He and his wife love to kayak the many beautiful Colorado lakes with their dog.
