Holocaust

It is now 2004. I am watching a rebroadcast of the Holocaust. After all these years, it still ellicits strong emotions from me - tears, anger and fear. Yes, fear. Fear because something like this may happen again. Fear because antisemitism is growing throughout the world. Fear because people are trying to deny the truth of the holocaust.

This miniseries gives me hope though. Hope that people will never forget and never want to be a party to such inhumanity, cruelty and horror. The strong performances, historical accuracy, and excellent writing make this miniseries not only a great piece of filmmaking but also a piece of evidence that hopefully will keep any human being from treating another like a piece of garbage.


Haunting and Sorrowful, But...   June 9, 2002
Francesco Scinico (San Diego, CA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I was a kid when I saw the mini-series on TV in Italy. I remember sitting on the couch with my entire family since my mother wanted us to see what happened to the Jews during WWII in Nazi Germany. Back then, what I saw made an everlasting impression and got me hooked on everything that was Jewish. Since then, I've been reading books and watching movies and documentaries on the Children of Abraham... Anyway, after more than twenty years, I rented this TV movie to bring back the memories of the old times. The movie is moving and compelling. The only criticism that I have is that it uses the broad term Christianity when it's actually specifically referring to Catholicism; also, in a couple of scenes it looks like an apologetic portrayal of Catholicism as the last bastion against the Nazi horror, when it is common knowledge that the Catholic church had at last a dubious role in the handling of the matter of the Jews during that period. Other than that, the movie is truly poignant and well acted by the protagonists. Perhaps, the most incredible thing is how those monsters could coldly murders millions of innocent people and then go back to their families at Christmas, sing "Silent Night," and boldly proclaim to their children that they were defending the civilization of Western Europe from the threat of the Jews, the killers of Christ, like they themselves, with their folly, were not killing the spirit of Christ not one, but six million times.