Adam Resurrected

An unsettling story, with a brilliant lead performance by Goldblum, but Schrader's tone veers uncertainly. Adam Stein (Goldblum) was a successful Jewish cabaret performer in Berlin until the Nazis came to power. Sent to a concentration camp, Adam survives because the camp's Commandant (Defoe) is an admirer. But he also treats Adam (literally) like a dog so it's no wonder that Adam eventually winds up in an Israeli mental hospital for Holocaust survivors. He's still using humor as a coping mechanism but circumstances and survivors' guilt undermine an already shaky foundation. Based on the novel by Yoram Kaniuk.