Grey Zone, The Buy Grey Zone, The from my web shop

(- 2001 -)

Original Title Grey Zone, The Director Tim Blake Nelson Genre Drama Released 2001-09-13 MPAA Rating Rated R for strong holocaust violence, nudity and language. Rated 7.5

Plot Summary

The true story of Dr. Miklos Nyiszli, a Hungarian Jew chosen by Josef Mengele to be the head pathologist at Auschwitz. Nyiszli was one of Auschwitz's Sonderkommandos - Special Squads of Jewish prisoners placed by the Nazis in the excruciating moral dilemma of helping to exterminate fellow Jews in exchange for a few more months of life. Together, the Sonderkommandos struggled to organize the only armed revolt that would ever take place at Auschwitz. As the rebellion is about to commence, a group from the unit discovers a 14-year-old girl who has miraculously survived a gassing. A catalyst for their desperate attempt at personal redemption, the men become obsessed with saving this one child, even if doing so endangers the uprising which could save thousands. To what terrible lengths are we willing to go to save our own lives, and what in turn would we sacrifice to save the lives of others?

Images

Actors / Character

David Arquette as Hoffman , Velizer Binev as Moll (as Velizar Binev) , David Chandler as Rosenthal , Michael Stuhlbarg as Cohen , George Zlatarev as Lowy , Dimitar Ivanov as Old Man , Daniel Benzali as Schlermer , Allan Corduner as Doctor Miklos Nyiszli , Steve Buscemi as Abramowics , Harvey Keitel as SS-Oberscharfuhrer Eric Muhsfeldt , Henry Stram as SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Josef Mengele , Kamelia Grigorova as Girl , Lisa Benavides as Anja , Shirly Brener as Inmate , Mira Sorvino as Dina

IMDB User Comments

It may have worked better as an off-Broadway play, but this celebrity-ridden downer is a moral grey zone that's better read about in history books. Like every other Holocaust movie before it, this one is obviously a downer. This one, though, has no survivors, no hope, and no likeable characters. Even the protagonists, the Sonderkommandos (prisoners who live longer by disposing of their own peoples' bodies) are a bunch of gruff and unpleasant folks. The Hollywood cast that includes Mira Sorvino, Natasha Lyonne, David Arquette, and Steve Buscemi really take away from the potential of the film by not fully getting in character. Their unavoidably obvious American accents are more of a distraction than their celebrity presence. While none of them are bad visually, it's disheartening to hear familiar voices on those particular characters. Arquette, it should be noted, has finally put in his first non-aggravating performance, although he still seemed out of place. Thankfully the lesser known Allan Corduner and Daniel Benzali have bulkier roles than their famous co-stars and save this from being an indie who's who. The only well known actor that truly deserves credit for fully attempting to portray a character is Harvey Keitel. His role as the stern German officer is the only standout performance. There is one scene in particular, though, where Keitel's character is speaking in English to a prisoner and someone else responds "They don't understand German". I suppose we were supposed to use our imagination that they are all speaking in different languages? Maybe subtitles were too much trouble? Who knows? Either way, it really takes you out of the story altogether. Tim Blake Nelson (O) wrote and directed this stagy Auschwitz story based on true events that tells the story of an uprising by prisoners at the infamous concentration camp. Nelson does a good job of not making any of the people heroic, focusing on the fact that the rebellion was poorly staged and wildly disorganized. It's an important story to tell, although the known facts about the incident differ a little bit with what has historically been written about. His intentions are good, but the end result does no justice to the story itself. The images you'll leave with are horrific. Unlike Speilberg's Schindler's List, no graphic detail was spared in the showers or in the disposing of the bodies. The unsettling feeling is part of the point, but it's also a little too much. There's the piles of bones, the scalps, corpses, gold teeth, ash, and other grim reminders of how awful the events were but does it all need to be recreated again? I can't say I would recommend this movie to anyone. It's horribly depressing and not very well done. It may have worked better as an off-Broadway play, but this celebrity-ridden downer is a moral grey zone that's better read about in history books.

CD Label