VARIAN & PUTZI
In August 1940, U.S. journalist Varian Fry was asked by the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) to go to France. After the German Army occupied France, a group of concerned Americans set up the ERC to rescue prominent intellectuals. Upon arrival in France, Fry had a list of 200 names, but he was approached by thousands. Within 13 months, Fry helped over 1,500 people escape from southern France. Among them were the artists Marc Chagall and Max Ernst and philosopher Hannah Arendt. Fry was expelled from France in September 1941. After his return to the U.S., his deeds were recognized neither during nor after World War II. Fry died in 1967. In 1996, he posthumously received Israel's highest award, and an olive tree was planted in his honour at the Yad Vashem Memorial Centre in Jerusalem.
This film examines the lives of Varian Fry and Ernst 'Putzi' Hanfstaengl--hero and anti-hero--who exhibited similar traits of arrogance and rebelliousness, as well as strong feelings of alienation, yet responded very differently to cataclysmic events.