It's always a little heartbreaking to watch a movie like In Tranzit. Directed by documentary director/producer Tom Roberts, this intriguing piece of history finds itself marred by its distant, almost documentary- like approach. Hollow, cold, and lacking any of the emotional oomph that it should have, this is based on the true story of a post-WWII detention center, staffed entirely by women, in war-ravaged Russia. A shipment of Nazi POWs ends up in their care while awaiting orders from up high. Cold, lonely, and with spirits broken by war, the inevitable happens -- the men and women begin to have relationships that threaten the integrity of the camp.

Sadly, this film is all over the place and refuses to settle on a single storyline. The result is a muddled wreck of dull stories that should be incredibly interesting. Because the film lacks any sort of focus we can never really feel for any of the characters, many of whom should have a film all to themselves. Vera Farmiga (this summer's Orphan) gives an outstanding performance as a Russian doctor whose husband has been turned into a mute, paranoid, mentally handicapped shell of himself -- she refuses to have him committed to a sanitarium, so he works as the camp's nearly incompetent front gate sentry. Meanwhile, a prisoner/high ranking SS member falls for her and they begin what may or may not lead to an illicit affair. This would have made for a fantastic movie ... had the director chosen to focus upon it. Instead, this is only one subplot in a series and never gets the attention it deserves.

Meanwhile the camp's chief liaison/warden (John Malkovich) seems to have a thing for the doctor, while the doctor's superior officer has the hots for him and the cook gets pregnant by one of the German prisoners who she's fallen in love with. Sound like a soap opera? It could be, if overdone. Instead it is all under done. There is so much going on in subtext without any actual text to speak of. There's not really a plot so much as a monotonous wading through interesting stories but never settling on one.

Everything else -- the acting, the cinematography, the set design -- is damn near perfect. That's what has me so brokenhearted about this film. It's exactly the type of film I like to see. I love a good World War II movie, especially a sweeping one filled with torment, agony, and love shining through it all ... but that's not this film. This would very much like to be that. The actors want it to be that. The crew wants it to be that. But the story ... the story has no idea where it's going. And the whole thing is wasted.

The only feature on the disc is a brief making-of, which is a must watch if you end up seeing this. It isn't until you watch this featurette that you realize just how harsh the conditions were, how multi-national the cast really is, and what it took to get this on film. If only it had turned out better.

In Tranzit is available now from Peace Arch Entertainment.

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