“Watching Walter,” directed by Mitch Yapko

San Diego Short Film Festival

Drama

TRT 17:13

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Wladyslaw "Walter" Wojnas (Stephen Tobolowsky, Benjamin Stockham and William Leon) is a watchmaker in 1995, a concentration camp prisoner in 1940 and a liberated concentration camp prisoner in 1945 in this short biopic, based on a true story.

The story is framed by a German man (Gareth Williams) bringing Walter a watch to repair, which sets up a flashback to Walter’s childhood in the camp. A Nazi officer (Andrew Elvis Miller) teaches Walter about watches, in between bouts of humiliating and beating him.

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Tobolowsky is instantly recognizable from his numerous movie and television roles, and his understated and dignified performance perfectly reflects Walter’s pride in his horological achievements that were born from tragedy and pain. But all three of the Walters here are good in their own way and serve their different purposes well – including Leon’s silent performance. Williams and Miller don’t have a lot of screen time but also bring exactly what their very different scenes with Walter need for him to react to.

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Visually, the camera is mostly fixed and there are some scenes with very little movement, invoking an almost photographic aesthetic. The interior of the watch shop and the room in the camp where Walter fixes his watches are dimly lit – so much so that when the world outside can be glimpsed from inside, it’s completely blown out and dreamlike. Sets, costumes, locations – everything does a good job of serving the story.

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According to Yapko, this is meant to be a proof of concept for a full-length movie of Walter’s life. However, it would be a disservice to this film to think of it as a lengthy trailer for a story we don’t see. Judged on its own merits, “Watching Walter” is a complete story and an exceptional short film.