Judgment at Nuremberg

Stanley Kramer, 1961, bw (8.6*)
Dramatic re-enactment of the famous Nuremberg trial of the major Nazi war criminals, held in 1948. German actor Maximilian Schell, as the defense attorney for the Nazis, steals this film from all the major American actors (which include Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, and Montgomery Clift), and won an Oscar® for best actor for the performance of his lifetime. In fact, it's one of the best of all-time, one of the most impassioned ever committed to film. Others in the all-star cast include Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, and Richard Widmark.

It's really little more than another courtroom drama, only in this case the defendants are the biggest criminals of the century, if not all time - those who planned and ordered the systematic execution of the Jews during WW2.

The film is based on the actual legal transcripts of the famous trial. Each defendant claimed to have been "just following orders, under penalty of death", so the trial becomes an issue of when does an individual draw the line when his country and his orders become immoral and inhumanitarian. To what higher authority does a man owe his utmost allegiance? To country, to self, or to God? Thus the film deals with universal issues that face individuals in any time of war, and becomes an indictment of mankind itself, for no war is really different as the innocent die along with combatants.

A black-and-white classic, one of the last from a nearly extinct art form as nearly all films today are made in color.

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Black Book

Paul Verhoeven, 2006, Holland (8.8*)

Excellent true story of a Jewish double agent, who went so far as to die all her hair blonde so she could literally sleep with the Nazi enemy in World War II Holland. She did this after nearly escaping, only to have Germans kill nearly everyone on aboat while she escapes, and being rescued by the underground. Carice von Houten plays a singer who infiltrates local Gestapo headquarters by seducing officers.


This is a strong storyline, with some excellent war sequences, a modernized version of an early 40's war film. This film was largely ignored in the U.S., grossing just 4m, but has a rating of 8 at IMDB, making it borderline top 250 all-time, and won 11 awards overall, including best film at the Netherlands film festival.


Verhoeven excels at films about WW2 Holland, as his breakthrough international success was Soldier of Orange, which made Rutger Hauer an international star.

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The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1970 (8.4*)
Best Foreign Film (AA)
The Finzi-Continis are a family of wealthy, aristocratic Jews living in Italy during the 1920's. They routinely open up their spacious gardens to the public so everyone can enjoy nature's beauty. Part of that beauty is Dominique Sanda, who is exquisite as Micol, who seems to enjoy toying with the emotions of her suitors between rounds of tennis and parties. The tranquility of the garden and serenity of the estate isolate the family from the growing current of fascism that will lead to the war and the holocaust.

De Sica, unlike his early films, fills Garden with lush, romantic images, in a kind of hazy, painterly color palette, almost as if seeing a film of a dream of an idyllic lifestyle that only exists briefly, if at all. Though it does not rank with De Sica's best (The Bicycle Thief, Umberto D.), it's still another classic Italian film, and well worth seeing for its own merits.

Winner of eight awards overall, including the Oscar® for foreign language film

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The Shop On Main St.

Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos, 1965, Czechoslovakia, bw (9.0*)
Best Foreign Film (AA)
A terrific film on a little known subject, the 'Aryanization' of Jewish businesses in Europe, in which the Nazis sent in those of pure, Aryan race to basically take over Jewish businesses when Jews were banned from owning or operating any. This story takes place in occupied Czechoslavakia, when an Aryan male is sent to run a tiny button shop on Main St. in a small Czech village.

Ida Kaminska plays the shopkeeper, in a performance that garnered an Oscar® nomination for lead actress; it's one of the more believable in Oscar® history as she's so wonderfully understated that you never suspect she's acting. Jozef Króner is the man (Tono) sent to take over her shop, and he's in for a real education, as he discovers a huge Jewish support network that actually pays salary to small shopkeepers who would be out of business otherwise.

This is an eye-opening story that looks at anti-Semitism literally at street level, how it affects the daily lives of small villagers. It's an important film in the pantheon of holocaust films, and one of the best films to ever come out of the Czech Republic. The film won four awards for foreign language film, including the Oscar® in 1966.

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Kapó

Gillo Pontecorvo, Italy, 1959, bw (8.4*)
A long overlooked holocaust story is now available on dvd. Director Pontecorvo is best known for the ultra-realistic war docudrama The Battle of Algiers, which is a must see for fans of both war films and Italian cinema. Before making that classic, he gave us a smaller war film, yet a universal story no doubt enacted over and over in World War II.

Susan Strasbourg gives a strong and realistic portrayal of a 14-year old Jewish girl thrown into a concentration camp with her parents. She quickly realizes that children and the elderly are being executed, so she assumes the identity of an adult criminal in order to survive. She becomes a favorite of the SS officers due to her youth, and they eventually make her a kapó, prisoners who are quasi-officers above the other prisoners, who basically work for the Nazis and against their own brothers in order to get more food and other benefits.

This is not a pleasant tale, but a heroic and realistic one. Those who enjoyed Schindler's List and Stalag-17 should also like Kapó, it's that good, and belongs on the short list of excellent holocaust and prison films, and films with strong women.

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Fateless

Lajos Koltai, Hungary-Germany-UK, 2005 (8.2*)
Based on the true story of 14-yr old Hungarian Jew Gyorgy, played by Marcell Nagy, who was sent first to Auschwitz then Buchenwald by the Nazis. Beautifully shot in b&w, from a novel by Nobel-winning author Imre Kertész. At the time he's coming of age, for a normal teen, Gyorgy is having to both learn to survive and also to learn what it means to be Jewish and persevere centuries of persecution.

Certainly not a pleasant story, but still an inspiring one. Nagy is excellent in the title role, aided by production being shut down for awhile to find new investors, giving the young actor the appearance of being severely aged by the travails of the concentration camps. This is an overlooked holocaust film, and Jewish Heritage Month is a good time to view this one if you haven't, as it's one of the better made films of this genre from a technical basis. Kudos to director Koltai for adapting the novel into a powerful visual statement of man's inhumanity.

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Defiance

Edward Zwick, 2008 (8.0*)
They keep releasing holocaust films, and I, for one, keep watching them all; I find inspiration in the struggle of the of the common man against the fascist machine (Star Wars), usually the "freedom fighter" archetype. I saw Margaret Bourke-White's photos of Auschwitz at age 5, so the worst possible images are already seared into my psyche anyway; I recently posted a list of 100 at my Worlds Best Films site. I just saw Defiance, based on the true story of the Bielski brothers of Belarus, here played by Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber (he really fits this part!), who escaped the Nazi invasion of their land by going into the forests, as the Germans burned everything their path: villages, people, livestock, farmland. Over three years, the Bielskis saved over 1200 people, and fought alongside partisans. Their knowledge of the dense Nibelofski (sp?) Forest allowed them to continue to escape capture, and survive the winter outside.

Even though the film is not as intense as I expected, it still tells an inspiring story of those who fought back with literally nothing to begin with but a few hunting rifles, then more and more captured weapons as time progressed. This group refused to give up, and lend more historical credence to the lesson all have learned: never invade even a part of Russia. Napoleon's army invaded with over one million soldiers, and only 5000 returned to France.

A similar Russian film also eerily documents the invasion of Belarus, Come and See (1985), and it reveals the Nazi atrocities in more horrifying images, approaching a dreamlike quality rarely seen in war films outside of Apocalypse Now. Defiance is more of a traditional war film, with a good mix of story and action.

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Come and See

Elim Klimov, 1985, Russia (8.4*)
This is one of the more harrowing WW2 films, as it takes place in rural Belorussia as the Nazis invade, turning idyllic, pastoral farmland into a living hell. We see life through the eyes of a teenage boy, named Florya, brilliantly played by Alexei Kravencho, who begins the film digging in the sand for discarded weapons, which he and his friends use for playing war. Soon after, the Nazi invasion comes, and he flees with some armed partisans into the woods. Gradually through the film, his face becomes etched by horror, and his his eyes mirror his internal shock at the atrocities he witnesses.

This has some of the more memorable war scenes in memory. Director Klimov has made the film more immediate and realistic by using high contrast, grainy film and hand-held cameras. You often feel the trees whipping past you as you hike through the forest with partisans to escape the invading army, which is leaving a path of destruction. There’s a particularly frightening one of machine gun fire in the dark on a moonlit night, tracers skimming by just over the head of a prone Florya in the grass.

A warning that this depicts war brutality at its worst, and is not a family film nor one for the squeamish, but for everyone else, a must-see war film that brings the ultimate reality of mankind’s atrocities back to our consciousness once again. One of the best Russian films, #559 on our top ranked films on the net survey.

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The Reader

Stephen Daldry, 2008 (8.9*)
This is Kate Winslett's finest performance in a stellar career, and was rewarded with her first Oscar® for best actress. She plays a woman, Hannah, whose spontaneous act of kindness to a sick teenager, Micheal, leads to his first love affair. Her favorite pastime when they are alone is to have Michael read classic literary works to her. Michael's life is changed by this women old enough to be his mother, yet she remains an enigma to him.

Later, at law school, he again crosses paths with Hannah, a defendant in an important legal case relating to the Holocaust, and certain facts are now obvious to him that only he knows. The film eventually includes Michael as an adult lawyer, played by Ralph Feinnes in a small but effective part. Kate Winslett shines throughout, making us understand this complex character, even if we cannot justify certain actions taken during wartime. The original novel by Bernhard Schlink was a favorite of mine, and director Stephen Daldry has done the novel justice, creating an intelligent and restrained of a deeply drawn female character, and her effect on the development of a young lawyer.

Unfortunately both producers Anthony Minghella and later Sydney Pollack passed away during the making of this film and never saw its completed form.

[Note: definitely an R for nude sex scenes]

For Kate Winslett's other best performances, check out: Heavenly Creatures, her first (directed by Peter Jackson), Finding Neverland (her favorite film of hers), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

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The Counterfeiters

Stefan Ruzowitzsky, 2007, Austria (7.8*)
Best Foreign Film (AA)
Engrossing story of a true Nazi plot to counterfeit so many British pounds and U.S. dollars as to affect those economies by flooding the market with bogus money, inflating the currencies. This was possible due to master forger Salomon Sorowitsch, brilliantly played by Karl Marcovichs, being caught by a Nazi officer who knew his skills, and when promoted to head of the secret counterfeiting operation, he brings Salomon onto the team of the best printers, engravers, and forgers the Nazis could round up.

This film is immaculate in its details, and becomes a film about honor vs. survival as do many WW2 stories. Won the Oscar in 2008 for Foreign Language Film.

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Schindler’s List

Steven Spielberg, 1993 (9.6*)
Best Picture (AA, BAA, GG)

AFI and Time Mag Top 100

Spielberg once said that he made films like Jaws, so he could then afford to make films like Schindler’s List.

This is a true story of factory owner Oscar Schindler, a formerly failed capitalist who now sees a chance to benefit from free labor. He personally hired Jews to make munitions, kept their families together and provided a list of his workers who were to be protected, thereby sparing them the camps.

Liam Neeson gives his best performance as Schindler, a man torn between making weapons of destruction to aid the Nazi cause, yet who also wants to save his Jewish workers from their fate. Also turning in a career best performance is Ralph Fiennes as a sadistic Nazi camp officer, who will occasionally pick up a rifle and shoot a prisoner at random just to relieve his boredom.

Shot in black and white, with one color highlight as a visual indicator (no spoilers!) 7 Oscars, Schindler

Now No. 7 on the IMDB 250 and No. 27 on our compendium of top ranked 1000 on the net

Quote: I need the little kids because their tiny hands can reach inside artillery shells. (Schindler)

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