In 1942 Stuttgart, a woman at a facility dedicated to breeding Aryan babies tries to smuggle two Jewish children to safety, in this poorly executed Holocaust-themed thriller. “Aryan Paper,” written and directed by Danny Patrick, falls short on almost every level, from its inept script to the lacklustre performances throughout.
Set mostly near Stuttgart in 1942, the film follows characters living at a Lebensborn programme facility, where young women are paired with Nazi officers to breed Aryan babies. One of the women, Spanish-born Gisella (played by Celia Learmonth), eventually attempts to smuggle two Jewish youths, Benjamin (Jacob Ogle) and Judith (Niamh Ogle), across the border to safety. Her plans are foiled in part by the villainous Helga (portrayed by Leona Clarke and Cara Chase), who is sleeping with the unit’s commander and is willing to resort to violence to stop Gisella.
The film’s slapdash, low-budget aesthetic could perhaps be forgiven, but the real downfall is the painfully under-rehearsed, monotone performances from the cast. It’s as if director Patrick recruited the actors with a hastily placed ad and paid them in sandwiches and soda for a day’s work. While the sincerity of the filmmakers is evident, “Aryan Paper” ultimately falls short as an insensitive and poorly executed attempt to tackle the horrors of the Holocaust.
Kubrick’s long-abandoned Holocaust-themed project of a similar name, based on the novel “Wartime Lies” by Louis Begley, is rumoured to be revived by director Luca Guadagnino. Fortunately for Guadagnino, Patrick’s film is unlikely to overshadow any future efforts, as “Aryan Paper” is a shockingly poor effort that will likely be forgotten by next week.
