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Me Ivan, You Abraham Movie Review

Me Ivan, You Abraham is a 1993 Belarusian drama film directed by Yolande Zauberman. It’s a strange, but beautifully made period piece.

In 1930s Poland, the search is on for two children, one Jewish and one Christian, who fled their village. Directed by a French director and set in Poland, this is otherwise a Belarusian production and it’s often regarded as one of the best films made in that country. While I appreciated its artistic qualities, I did have issues with the plot itself.

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This is your standard friendship story set in WWII between a Christian and Jewish boy. It’s nothing new for sure, but it’s so moving in their relationship that it ultimately worked. It has a big heart and a heartwarming sensibility to it that made it quite unique.

But my main problem with the movie is the addition of those odd sexual or grotesque moments that felt entirely unnecessary to the overall story and just odd. This director obviously is very talented and her work on this movie is quite strong, but I don’t quite know what’s going on in her mind and I did have some questions. The genitalia-centered beginning was creepy and strange while that horse kissing scene was repulsive and again totally not needed.

Had she not included those scenes, the film would have been much better. The supporting characters were also underdeveloped and they do not impact the story all that much. But our main heroes are well defined and I found the performances from these child actors surprisingly adept.

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Me Ivan, You Abraham is worth seeing for its visuals alone. It benefits from stark black-and-white photography that was absolutely gorgeous to behold. The elegant compositions made each and every scene striking and I particularly appreciated how fluid and modern it all felt while still being classical in a way. The score, production design and editing were also quite good. It’s a technically polished movie that was let down by its script.