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Netherlands released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Dutch ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: 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? SCREENED/AWARDED AT: San Sebastian International Film Festival, ...The Grey Zone
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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
By AMBER
Format:DVD
Tim Blake Nelson, the director of "The Grey Zone" (USA 2001), states that this is not a movie about the Holocaust. It is about the choices a human being is ready to make in order to stay alive - even if it is just for a little while longer.
The central figure is Dr. Miklos Nyiszli, a Hungarian Jew who assisted with Josef Mengele's infamous experiments. The events are based on his records and on notes of members of the "Sonderkommandos". They take place in Auschwitz, 1944.
The SS dropped the Zyklon B into the gas chambers - everything else was done by Jewish prisoners: leading the victims into the changing rooms, assuring them they were going to have a shower, locking them in.
Then, afterwards, collecting the bodies and burning them in the crematoria ovens.
There was even leisure time for them to play chess or to enjoy the items they were able to loot.
And the question for the viewer becomes: how would you have chosen?
The impact of this film results from it's coolness, it's unsentimentality. It is much worse than "Schindler's list" or "The Pianist". Those were stories of survivors.
The movie was shot in Bulgaria and the extras were recruited from the region. They were queuing up for roles women had to shave their heads for and people lying naked on top of each other as "human lettuce" in the gas chamber (information from the bonus material).
If you want to learn about the death camps in the third Reich - watch the BBC series on Auschwitz. If you want to understand more - watch this.
The central figure is Dr. Miklos Nyiszli, a Hungarian Jew who assisted with Josef Mengele's infamous experiments. The events are based on his records and on notes of members of the "Sonderkommandos". They take place in Auschwitz, 1944.
The SS dropped the Zyklon B into the gas chambers - everything else was done by Jewish prisoners: leading the victims into the changing rooms, assuring them they were going to have a shower, locking them in.
Then, afterwards, collecting the bodies and burning them in the crematoria ovens.
There was even leisure time for them to play chess or to enjoy the items they were able to loot.
And the question for the viewer becomes: how would you have chosen?
The impact of this film results from it's coolness, it's unsentimentality. It is much worse than "Schindler's list" or "The Pianist". Those were stories of survivors.
The movie was shot in Bulgaria and the extras were recruited from the region. They were queuing up for roles women had to shave their heads for and people lying naked on top of each other as "human lettuce" in the gas chamber (information from the bonus material).
If you want to learn about the death camps in the third Reich - watch the BBC series on Auschwitz. If you want to understand more - watch this.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By T
Format:DVD
This is a gruesome film and I mean this positively. It covers the reality of concentration camps that are rarely touched upon in other Holocaust films - that of the gas chambers.
There is torture, gas chamber scenes, burning in the oven scenes and shootings but running through the film is the frustration the prisoners feel at the lack of activity by the camp's Resistance leaders.
At one point someone is found alive at the end of a gasssing and things ae brought to a head here on. I won't say more so as not to spoil the storyline but it is well worth watching just to see another side to the death camps that is rarely shown on screen.
To compliment this film I would suggest reading Filip Muller's 'Three Years in the Gas Chamber' which has many similar themes running through it.
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful
By D. Bates
Format:DVD
Without doubt one of the best films I've seen but I'd never be able to sit through it again. Gone is the possitive message of Schindler's List, instead we have an honest look at what we are really like as a species. Anger, fear and futility predominate throughout. All aparently based on fact. The poor sods that took part in the rebellion should be remembered for what they did yet we prefer to build monuments to rich gernerals. It's alright to get all pasificst and hippy about violence and such stuff but what they were up against was intolerable.I was depressed for about three days after this film but it was worth it. All the actors perform incredibly well. Harvey Keital is terrifying as the camp functionary who has no illusiones about what awaits him when the war ends. Yet still he carries on. Almost too bad to be true it defies belief that a civilized bunch like the Germans were capable of such horror.It will break your heart but watch it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
grey zone movie
selected at the recommendation of the tour guide while visiting Auschwitz. Very moving and still unbelievable. Enjoy would not be the correct word but glad I watched.
Published 1 day ago by glamour girl
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dissapointment
Really not as good as I thought it was going to be; very weak story line coupled with mediocre acting = not worth a watch.
Published 13 days ago by Katherine.S
1.0 out of 5 stars
Grey Zone
It would be a good story for someone else but the language was far too much for me. I did think the story did not need so much bad language.
Published 2 months ago by Susan Rees
5.0 out of 5 stars
GOOD DVD
FANTASTICK
I AM OF TO POLAND SOON TO SEE AUSHWITZZ BOUGHT THE FINAL SOLUTION
AND WILL VISIT AUSHWITZ 1 AND 2
I AM OF TO POLAND SOON TO SEE AUSHWITZZ BOUGHT THE FINAL SOLUTION
AND WILL VISIT AUSHWITZ 1 AND 2
Published 2 months ago by Keith Emberton
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not impressed
Maybe I should have read a few more reviews before I ordered this DVD. I have been reading a lot on the holocaust of late and thought it would be good time to watch something of a... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Jez Self
4.0 out of 5 stars
THE GREY ZONE
The GREY ZONE is an excellent film, because although the gas chambers and crematoria at Auschwitz Birkenau were blown up by the SS in late 1944, for the first time the film makers... Read more
Published 15 months ago by DAVID ISHERWOOD
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Grey Zone
An awesomely grim but credibly convincing production in which Steve Buschemi and Harvey Keitel are on opposite sides of Concentration Camp experience at Auschwitz - the former a... Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2011 by joholin
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the most moving films about this era that I have ever seen
This is a great movie about the Holocaust at a very good price that I would certainly recommend to anyone, it depicts the lives of The Sonderkommando who had the dreadful job of... Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2010 by Huskerdude
1.0 out of 5 stars
Boring
Thought this would be much better than it is, as it covers a period in recent history which interests me very much. Read more
Published on 24 July 2010 by B. Smith
1.0 out of 5 stars
An opportunity wasted
Maybe because of budget, maybe because of backing but this film is am abject failure. Poorly produced, inexpertly directed and largely badly acted. Read more
Published on 12 July 2010 by Pedro De Pradines
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