Review – The Dead Ones

In The Dead Ones, Margie Fischer tells in fragments a story of family, culture, work, life and loss. Through her monologues and with slide illustrations, we are told of her family’s escape from a Nazi-occupied Austria to China, one of the few countries at the time which was issuing visas to Jewish refugees. For ten years her family found sanctuary in Shanghai until they moved, once more, to Australia. From here, Margie explores the lives of her dead loved ones and what it will mean when she is no longer around to remember them.

These are profound, intimate stories which deserve to be told, but are sometimes let down in the telling. Margie takes a literal approach to the use of her slides. Every mention of her mother’s room, and there are many, is accompanied by the same underexposed shot of a made bed and an empty square of carpet. We would much rather have a portrait of her mother at these moments, to connect us to the story. Instead, as Margie recollects intimate and sometimes difficult relationships, we’re treated to clinical photographs of vacant rooms dull objects.

The Dead Ones is a family’s experience of displacement through anecdotes, documents, portraits and, yes, crime-scene photography. Under Margie’s care, the story can be disquieting, funny, sad, and often surprising. Every personal story is unique, but few are managed by such a custodian.