“Do you paint happy moments or just the sad ones?”
The trailer for “Charlotte” makes an instant impression, as one of the first images we see is Charlotte walking down a street with Nazi banners hanging over her head. She answers the opening question by saying that the sad moments “always feel more true”, and then we see how she lives under the ghost of the swastika. It provides a quick explanation of what kind of movie it will be regarding the subject.
With history rewritten in real time now and an entire generation coming of age in the midst of a pandemic, political radicalization and Holocaust denial, and the outbreak of war, “Charlotte” can strike a nerve.
Here is the official synopsis for “Charlotte” from Good Deed Entertainment:
CHARLOTTE is an animated drama that tells the true story of Charlotte Salomon, a young German-Jewish painter who comes of age in Berlin on the eve of World War II. She is wildly imaginative and deeply gifted and dreams of becoming an artist. Her first love welcomes her talent, which strengthens her determination. But the world around her is changing rapidly and dangerously, limiting her possibilities and derailing her dream. When anti-Semitic policies inspire violent crowds, she leaves Berlin for security in the south of France. There she begins to paint again, and finds new love. But her work is interrupted, this time by a family tragedy that reveals an even darker secret. Believing that only the extraordinary will save her, she embarks on the monumental adventure of painting her life story.
“Charlotte” is in select US theaters on April 22, 2022.