The Devil's Arithmetic
by Donna Deitch
List Price:
Our Price: $9.28
You Save: $5.66 (38%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Brittany Murphy, Kirsten Dunst, Louise Fletcher, Mimi Rogers, Paul FreemanDirector: Donna Deitch
Brand: Showtime Entertainment
Producer: Chris Ciaffa
Producer: Dustin Hoffman
Producer: Fred Weintraub
Producer: Jay Cohen
Producer: Kerry Zook
Writer: Jane Yolen
Writer: Robert J. Avrech
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-21
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Showtime Ent.
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Closed-captioned; Color; DVD; NTSC
Movie Reviews of The Devil's Arithmetic
Movie Review: Please remember me -- it matters that we always remember the costs, and more importantly the people
Summary: 5 Stars
Kirsten Dunst as Hannah is an older teenager who could care less about her ethnic past, the history of her people, the Jews.
When various family members try to share with her stories of what they went through during the Holocaust, Hannah gave lip service just smiling wishing she was elsewhere.
This reminds me of myself as a teenager as well as many of our friends and family. If it did not directly impact me / us, why should we care?
Hannah some how finds herself in the past with her aunt, now around the same age as herself just days before the Nazi took all of the town members to death camps.
Through this process, Hannah goes from disbelief (this cannot be happening to me; when will I wake up), to a change of self... moving beyond just caring for herself to caring for others. The change Hannah goes through is what we all need.
While a fictional movie, the portal of events appears to match historical records of the times, and touches one heart.
To have various individuals being taken to the gas chamber with just a simple wish... remember me... don't forget me... please remember me... cannot be more impacting to one's heart.
If we forget what the Jews, and those who helped them, went through during the Holocaust (where the Nazi's wanted genocide -- the complete wiping out of the Jews), we risk many things from history repeating itself to everyone else left being less than human.
While I am guilty as a teenager of being very similar to Hannah at the start of the movie, I pray and hope that while I did not go through her ordeal, that I have learned.
I hope everyone who watches this movie does not walk away entertained. I hope everyone who watches this movie walks away crying and changed in some way.
So that we do remember, so that we never forget.
Summary of The Devil's Arithmetic
Based on the popular novel by Jane Yolen, a typical American teenager gets transported back in time and experiences firsthand the horrors of the Holocaust and discovers the meaning of her family?s heritage.Executive producers Dustin Hoffman and Mimi Rogers present the truth of the Holocaust so a new generation can understand why it must never be forgotten. Kirsten Dunst plays Hannah, a modern teen more concerned with trends than history. During the traditional Passover dinner, she zones out as her relatives harp about concentration camps. But then Hannah passes through a portal to the past, where she becomes her own ancestor in Poland during the Nazi persecution of the Jews.
Director Donna Deitch provides an infinite library of Holocaust detail, re-creating the period with minute dedication. Haunting images, every costume, every hair, every light and shadow conspire to maintain a sense of desolate desperation. Suspense pervades as escapes fail and mothers with newborns are taken away. Only the magical context of the story, taken from the original children's novel by Jane Yolen, allows for a life-affirming ending. The performances may not be multifaceted but, considering the single-mindedness of the tale, the deep commitment of the actors makes every moment real and meaningful. Dunst seems able to carry a movie herself, and Brittany Murphy is mesmerizing as Hannah's sweet cousin Rivkah.
The message is powerfully direct, but the film avoids extreme violence in deference to young audiences. The theme is enshrined in the Rivkah's words: "We must stay alive to tell everyone what we've been through." Indeed, when Hannah returns to the present, she is a new woman, with a profound love of her culture and a religious respect for the value of all human life. --Lloyd Chesley
Similar DVD Movies
Wallenberg: A Hero's StoryPAR; Release date: 2011-04-05; DVD
Best price: $11.01
Price in other shops:
HolocaustHOLM,IAN; Release date: 2008-05-27; DVD
Best price: $19.49
Price in other shops:
Out of the AshesShowtime Entertainment; Release date: 2004-04-20; DVD
Best price: $8.77
Price in other shops:
The Devil's Arithmetic (Puffin Modern Classics)by Jane Yolen
Dutton; Puffin; Published: 2004-04-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.47
Price in other shops:
The Boy In The Striped PajamasLGF; Release date: 2011-04-26; DVD
Best price: $9.55
Price in other shops:
Anne Frank - The Whole StoryBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2001-08-28; Published: 2001-08-01; DVD
Best price: $49.99
Broken SilenceUniversal Studios; Release date: 2004-03-09; DVD
Best price: $1.97
Price in other shops:
The Only WayVideo Communications Inc.; Release date: 2010-07-27; DVD
Best price: $6.96
Price in other shops:
Miracle at MidnightBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-03-02; DVD
Best price: $5.89
Price in other shops:
Hidden in SilenceEcho; Release date: 2010-07-06; DVD
Best price: $3.36
Price in other shops: