The Grey Zone
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Movie Reviews of The Grey Zone
Movie Review: Incredible
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is very hard to watch. Much of the visuals are very disturbing and what is even worse is you're reminded that this isn't just a movie. These events actually took place. I can't even begin to understand what these people were going through. It's a very powerful story.Movie Review: The Grey Zone
Summary: 5 Stars
Based on the real-life events in WWII, a special squad of Jewish prisoners, who staged the only armed revolt that would ever take place at Auschwitz. Historical film showing the troubles that prisoners had to deal with in Auschwitz. A bone chilling story.Movie Review: A Must-See Film
Summary: 5 Stars
The film is very moving, and a very realistic portrayal of a subject that is often presented in an unrealistic and melodramatic manner.Movie Review: The Grey Zone
Summary: 5 Stars
A very powerful movie looking at a revolt against the German Third Reich.
I felt well worth the time.
Movie Review: Grey Zone is Slow, Depressing, and Authentic.
Summary: 4 Stars
Holocaust movies are very difficult to make and "The Grey Zone" goes a long way towards making a very authentic Holocaust film, but unfortunately it isn't very entertaining. The story of the Holocaust is one that I feel strongly needs to be told, but this film isn't the best vehicle for telling that story...The film tells a story of the Auschwitz death camp and specifically of the Kommandos or work groups recruited from the Jews to run the camps. Most of the film shows the dismal lives of the work crews and their attempts to organize an uprising. Some other reviewers have criticized the film for events that seemed too outlandish to be true, but I can say after having read dozens of Holocaust books, spoken with survivors, and seen most of the film footage that survived the war that the stories all rang true for me. Among the stories was the tale of an old man who was recruited onto a work crew working the crematoriums who was forced to shovel the corpses of his own wife and family into the ovens. It's a gruesome story, but also a very true one.
The one ray of light in the film isn't the uprising, but the work crew's chance discovery of a little girl that survived the gassing. At great risk, the work crews hide the little girl and summon a Jewish prisoner doctor to revive her. He revives the little girl and they attempt to hide her indefinitely. The character of the doctor, Miklos Nyiszli, a Hungarian pathologist is both real and well known. He worked as Joseph Mengele's (a twisted man who used live human beings for medical experiments) assistant and was never able to function as a regular human being again. He survived the war. Without feeling that I'm ruining the movie for anyone, the work crew's attempts to save the girl were all for naught as was the attempted uprising. However, the prisoners and work crews were able to disable one of the crematoriums that the Nazis were never able to rebuild.
It's hard to say if the acting was good since we never really meet any of the characters and many of the characters names aren't mentioned until very late in the film. This may have been an intentional decision by the director, but it made it very hard to get to identify with any of the characters. The film has an impressive cast including David Arquette, Allan Cordunes, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, David Benzali, and Steve Buscemi. Harvey Keitel who isn't known for accents did a more-than-passing job as a German Nazi guard.
This film is based upon the play of the same name that Tim Blake Nelson wrote. When it played in New York it won numerous awards and received rave reviews. The play was based on the book "Auschwitz" by Doctor Miklos Nyiszli. The book is well written, but didn't survive the transition from book to play to film format well.
I gave this film four stars instead of five because of its' extremely slow plot, which I don't think could keep the attention of either a disinterested party or someone who hadn't heard of the Holocaust before. I gave it four stars instead of three because the film is truly memorable with a great musical score, good acting within limits, and a very poignant story.
I mildly recommend this film and suggest that "Shindler's List" would be a much better film to view to learn about the Holocaust.
Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan