Lore” belongs to several sub-genres, one of which is the “children fending for themselves” storyline where an absent or dead parent forces the oldest of siblings to take on duties beyond their age range. Only in this case the children are Hitler Youth, two daughters and two sons of a high ranking Nazi official who are left alone when their parents are arrested for war crimes.
The other sub-genres in Australian director Cate Shortland’s second feature include the coming-of-age tale, Holocaust film, and teen romance, all combining into a hypnotic 90 minutes that nearly achieves the depth it hopes to reach.