Sometimes film adaptations work better when they’re a bit different than the source material. But after learning about the book “Treasure” was based on, I wish it would have been more faithful.
Set in 1991, “Treasure” stars Lena Dunham as Ruth, a journalist from New York City who’s visiting Poland to learn about where her parents grew up before being taken to concentration camps by Germans during World War II.
She’s accompanied by her father Edek (Stephen Fry) on the trip and the two set out on visiting a few of the towns he was familiar with. However, the situation is strained because Ruth is still getting over a difficult divorce and both she and her father are mourning the loss of the family matriarch.
“Treasure” is based on the 1999 fiction novel “Too Many Men,” in which a father-daughter duo travel to Poland to see the former’s hometown and visit Auschwitz. The difference is that in the book, they’re accompanied by the ghost of Nazi commandant Rudolf Hoss. To its detriment, that’s not in the movie.
Instead it’s a fairly typical drama centered on a strained relationship between parent and child. That in itself isn’t a bad thing, a father and daughter revisiting the former’s life that was upended by the actions of Nazis could be interesting. Unfortunately, “Treasure” stumbles because of awkward comedy and unnecessary side plots.
Regarding the former, Edek is often doing something quirky or saying something not quite appropriate, mostly to avoid reliving what he went through. It’s an odd bit for the character that’s somewhat played for laughs but is also depressing. On top of that though, Ruth, a journalist, can’t seem to pick up that it’s not just her dad being annoying, and instead is real trauma.
As a result, attempts at comedy don’t really work and Ruth ends up coming across as unlikable. She’s so often annoyed with her dad, but can’t see that he is obviously reliving some bad memories. Ruth’s character is also where a lot of those aforementioned subplots come in, all feeling like unnecessary filler.
During the film, Ruth is shown to have a self-harm problem, an overly precise diet and lingering bad feelings about a divorce. This is already a drama about a Holocaust survivor revisiting the town he was taken from. It really didn’t need all this extra baggage. It’s not like having a well-rounded character is bad, but all of this felt more like drama for the sake of it, rather than fleshing out who Ruth is.
Staying on Ruth, her background as a journalist doesn’t seem to come into play much, either, other than her snapping a few photos. It’s never stated that she’s working on an article or a book and has a passion for this trip. She doesn’t come across as an inquisitive person who’s digging for more information, making her pushes of her dad to revisit things come across as kind of selfish.
It doesn’t help that Dunham’s performance is a miss for the movie. The character is meant to be pushy but having it come from a good, just place, but Dunham doesn’t find that balance well. The same can be said about Fry, who is able to show that the character carries trauma, but not that he’s lived an entire adult life in New York or that he’s been part of Ruth’s life. Honestly it feels as if it’s the first meeting between the two in ages.
Unsurprisingly, the only strong point of the film is a moving trip by the characters to Auschwitz. Other than that, it’s overfilled with Ruth’s personal drama, Edek being goofy with new friends in the towns they visit, and an overall meandering trip from place to place. It’s a slog to sit through, without even having good characters. 1.5 out of 5.
Matthew Liedke on Film 