The Second World War is one of the darkest pages in the history of mankind. Holocaust movies tell about the terrible genocide, the victims of which were millions of people. It is difficult to remain indifferent to what is happening on the screen, but the pictures remind us of the heinous crimes that should not be repeated.
The Zone of Interest
- Genre: Drama, Military, History
- Production: USA, UK, Poland / 2023
- Director: Jonathan Glaser
- Starring: Sandra Hüller, Christian Friedel, Ralf Herfort, Maximilian Beck, Stefanie Petrovitz, Marie Rosa Tietjen, Lilli Falk, Sascha Maaz, Wolfgang Lampl.
This movie begins with an idyllic scene of a lovely family in 40’s clothing by a picturesque lake. Soon the family returns to their well-appointed home and it becomes clear who they are. They are Rudolf Hoess, one of the “architects” of the Holocaust and commandant of Auschwitz, his wife Hedwig and their five children.
Surrounded by a staff of silent servants, the Hoess family built for themselves a small bourgeois paradise just beneath the walls of the camp, killing hundreds of thousands of people. The screams of the prisoners, the black smoke and ash, the blood on Rudolf’s boots – all this the family chooses to ignore, enjoying their existence.
And when her husband is scheduled to be transferred to Berlin, Hedwig, who proudly calls herself the “Queen of Auschwitz”, does everything to prevent this from happening – after all, the children need to grow up in nature and fresh air, and her husband must remain a big boss….
British writer Martin Amis, on whose book the film is based, died on the day of its premiere in Cannes – May 19, 2023.
The Windermere Children
- IMDB Rating – 7.2
- Genre: Drama, Military
- Production: UK, Germany / 2020
- Director: Michael Samuels
- Starring: Thomas Kretschmann, Romola Garay, Ian Glen, Tim McInerney, Marcel Sabat, Philippe Christopher, Anna Schumacher, Konstantin Frank
At the end of World War II, children who survived the horrible conditions of Auschwitz and Buchenwald are brought to an English village. The adults hope to restore the children’s faith in a bright future, but the former prisoners look for a catch in every word and action.
Kalgart Manor on the shores of Lake Windermere is an ideal place for recovery and treatment, but the traumatized psyche of the children is not easily accustomed to a peaceful life. The children are like frightened animals, and the road to trust can be a thorny one.
The movie is based not only on real events, but also on the stories of Windermere’s direct pupils.
The Pianist
- IMDB Rating – 8.6
- Genre: Drama, Military, Biography, Music
- Production: France, Poland, Great Britain, Germany / 2002
- Budget: $35,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $120,072,577
- Director: Roman Polanski
- Starring: Adrien Brody, Emilia Fox, Daniel Caltagirone, Ed Stoppard, Maureen Lipman, Frank Finlay, Jessica Kate Meyer, Julia Reiner, Thomas Kretschmann, Michał Rzebrowski.
The war unceremoniously intrudes into the life of the talented Polish musician Wladek Szpilman, interrupting the broadcast of a concert by shelling. The pianist’s relatives decide to flee the country, but remain in Warsaw after the news breaks.
Along with German soldiers, brutal order and total prohibition come to the streets of the city. However, the deprivation of basic civil rights is nothing compared to the trials ahead. Vladek manages to avoid being sent to a death camp, and music helps him to keep his sanity.
At the time of filming Adrien Brody weighed 59 kg to look emaciated at a height of 185 cm. In one of the episodes, the actor had to jump out of a window onto a safety mat. To cheer up Adrian and relieve his fears, the director first performed the dangerous stunt himself.
The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler
- IMDB Rating – 7.2
- Genre: Drama, Military, Biography
- Production: USA / 2009
- Director: John Kent Harrison
- Starring: Anna Paquin, Marcia Gay Harden, Goran Visnjic, Nathaniel Parker, Steve Spires, Paul Freeman, Michelle Dockery, Danuta Stenka, Iddo Goldberg, Maja Ostaszewska.
Iren, a young Polish woman, works in the Warsaw Health Department, which is completely under the control of the German Nazis. Behind the modest life of an ordinary employee, it is difficult to see Irene’s clandestine activities saving Jewish children.
Defenseless babies were taken out in cars and toolboxes, trying to hide suspicious sounds as much as possible. The courageous girl maneuvered on the edge, because exposure or denunciation could cost not only Irena’s life, but also the lives of her loved ones.
The drama is based on real events, and Irena Sendler managed to save 2,500 Jewish children during the war years.
Righteous
- Genre: Drama, Military, History
- Production: Russia / 2023
- Worldwide Box Office: $6,045,228
- Director: Sergei Ursulyak
- Starring: Alexander Yatsenko, Sergei Makovetsky, Fyodor Dobronravov, Yevgeny Tkachuk, Julia Vitruk, Lyubov Konstantinova, Mark Eidelstein, Maria Zolotukhina, Konstantin Khabensky, Dovale Glikman.
Historical war drama directed by Sergei Ursulyak, dedicated to the heavy subject of the Holocaust, based on true events of 1942, which became known only in 2000.
The protagonist of this powerful drama, Nikolai Kiselev, was a member of Voronyansky’s partisan detachment “Avengers”. At that time, the fascists were actively exterminating Jews in the Vileika district of Belarus. People fled from these places as best they could, singly and in groups, most often dying on the way. Kiselev and his comrades managed to get 218 Jews, including old people and children, across the front line to safety. That’s about a thousand kilometers through the seething cauldron of the most terrible war….
This feat was described in the book “March of Life” by Inna Gerasimova, director of the Museum of Belarus, who found information about this event.
Witnesses
- IMDB Rating – 6.5
- Genre: Drama, History
- Production: Russia, Belarus, Czech Republic, France, Poland, Israel / 2018
- Worldwide Box Office: $31,544
- Director: Konstantin Pham
- Starring: Oksana Fandera, Philip Yankovsky, Vladimir Koshevoy, Lenn Kudryavitski, Mikhail Gorevoy, Marusya Zykova, Angelika Kashirina, Vyacheslav Chepurchenko, Maria King, Sergey Agafonov
The history of genocide is demonstrated in three independent novellas, where the fates of a pair of red shoes, a sheepdog and a violin form the mosaic of events. Silent witnesses cannot tell about the horrors of war. However, against the background of the terrible reality, objects and animals seem much more human than those who commit monstrous atrocities.
A pair of elegant shoes goes from a romantic date to a dump where prisoners’ shoes are piled up. A good-natured dog is turned into a vicious animal, and a violin becomes a unifying link for the descendants of the victims of the Holocaust.
The filmmakers received the first ever permit to work in the Auschwitz museum complex.
The film crew specially bought a violin made by Sebastian Rauch in the 18th century.
Life Is Beautiful
- IMDB Rating – 8.6
- Genre: Military, Comedy, Drama, Melodrama
- Production: Italy / 1997
- Budget: $20,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $228,847,384
- Director: Roberto Benigni
- Starring: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano, Sergio Bini Bustric, Marisa Paredes, Horst Buchholz, Lydia Alfonsi, Giuliana Loggiodice, Amerigo Fontani.
Guido, a Jew, and his young son Josue are sent from Italy to a concentration camp amid Nazi sentiment. The boy does not realize what is happening, and his father tries to shield the child from the brutal truth.
Guido tells them that they have become participants in a fascinating game, where the main prize is a real tank. The winner will be the boy who will never be caught by the strict guards. Josue dreams of riding on the tank, so he tries to win, not realizing that his own life is at stake.
The movie is based on the real-life memoirs of Auschwitz prisoner Salmoni, who wrote an autobiographical book about his time in the concentration camp.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
- IMDB Rating – 7.8
- Genre: Drama, Military, History
- Production: UK, USA / 2008
- Budget: $12,500,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $40,416,563
- Director: Mark Herman
- Starring: Ace Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Amber Beattie, Sheila Hancock, Richard Johnson, Kara Horgan, David Heyman, Rupert Friend.
Eight-year-old Bruno moves with his parents from Berlin to a cozy cottage as his father has been promoted. During another walk, the boy meets his peer Shmul, who lives on a strange farm.
The workers are dressed in ridiculous striped pajamas, and the new friend constantly complains of hunger. The boys are separated by a fence with barbed wire, but the barrier does not prevent communication. Accidental acquaintance and friendship lead to unpredictable consequences, and the wheel of fate has already started its course.
The war drama is based on the book of the same name. After the premiere, the picture was criticized for factual inaccuracies in the narrative.
The Zookeeper’s Wife
- IMDB Rating – 7.0
- Genre: Drama, Military, Biography, History
- Production: USA, UK, Czech Republic / 2017
- Budget: $20,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $26,152,835
- Director: Niki Caro
- Starring: Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenberg, Daniel Brühl, Timothy Redford, Efrat Dor, Iddo Goldberg, Shira Haas, Michael McElhatton, Val Maloku, Marta Issova
The list of the best Holocaust movies continues with the true story of the Zabinski couple, who saved several hundred Jews from death. During the occupation of Poland by Nazi invaders, zoo owner Jan was not afraid of the threat of the death penalty, helping the ghetto prisoners to escape.
Having learned about her husband’s activities, Antonina becomes an active assistant in the underground struggle for the lives of innocent people. The situation is complicated by the presence of a former family friend who holds an influential position in the ranks of the Nazis.
Antonina Zhabinskaya knew how to play the piano, and the loud playing of a tune was a signal to Jews in hiding. If the lady of the house sat down to play music, the rescuers had to be as quiet as possible.
Schindler’s List
- IMDB Rating – 9.0
- Genre: Drama, Biography, History, Military
- Production: USA / 1993
- Budget: $22,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $321,306,305
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Rafe Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Embeth Davidtz, Yonatan Segal, Malgosha Goebel, Shmuel Levy, Mark Iwanir, Beatrice Macola.
In the late 1930s, a wealthy factory owner, Oskar Schindler, visits Poland to invest a substantial sum in a lucrative production facility. The wealthy German opens a factory, hires local Jews, and when the Nazis come to power, he becomes a defense of his workers.
Oskar manages to negotiate with a high-ranking SS officer not to send his subordinates to their deaths. Schindler is allowed to draw up a list of those who will be granted life, and the factory owner is faced with a difficult choice.
The picture became one of the most expensive black-and-white films ever made, but Spielberg refused to pay the fee. The director used the proceeds to establish a foundation to preserve evidence of the genocide.
Zwartboek
- IMDB Rating – 7.7
- Genre: Thriller, Drama, Military
- Production: Netherlands, Germany, UK, Belgium / 2006
- Budget: €21,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $26,768,563
- Director: Paul Verhoeven
- Starring: Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Tom Hoffman, Halina Rein, Waldemar Kobus, Derek de Lint, Christian Berkel, Dolph de Vries, Peter Bloch, Michiel Häußmann.
During the occupation, Rachel, a German of Jewish descent, flees to the Netherlands, where she is helped by the family of a devout farmer. Another bombing raid wipes the house from the face of the earth, but the girl manages to escape.
A member of the resistance movement takes Rachel to the ferry, where she is reunited with her relatives. The joy of the reunion is overshadowed by a Nazi attack, and the only meaning of life for the girl becomes revenge. Rachel gets a glimpse of the face of the German officer responsible for her family’s death.
The performer had to speak four languages: Dutch, Hebrew, English and German.
Un sac de billes
- IMDB Rating – 7.3
- Genre: Drama, Biography, History
- Production: France, Canada, Czech Republic / 2016
- US box office receipts: $411,318
- Director: Christian Duguet
- Starring: Dorian Le Claisse, Baptiste Fleurial, Patrick Bruel, Elsa Silberstein, Bernard Campan, Kev Adams, Christian Clavier, César Domboy, Iliane Bergala, Emile Berling
The action of the biographical drama unfolds on the territory of France in 1940, when the capital of the country is occupied by German troops. The fascists issue a law restricting the rights of Jews, and the head of the family is forced to send his sons to the free zone.
The teenagers have to face a world full of real threat and deadly danger. Joseph and Maurice believe that sincerity and kindness will defeat the worst evil, because in any situation it is important to remain human.
This is the second and more modern adaptation of Joseph Joffo’s novel of the same name.
Saul fia
- IMDB Rating – 7.4
- Genre: Drama, Military
- Production: Hungary / 2015
- Budget: HUF 280,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $6,659,121
- Director: Laszlo Nemes
- Starring: Geza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rehn, Todd Charmon, Jerzy Walczak, Sándor Joter, Marcin Czarnecki, Levente Orbán.
Members of the Sonderkommando of the Auschwitz concentration camp escort ghetto prisoners to their final journey and then clean up the traces of the crime. One of the guards is Saul Auslander, a Jewish prisoner of war, who recognizes his own son in one of the dead.
The man decides to bury the child according to all the rules, but the task turns out to be almost impossible. It is necessary to hide his son’s body, avoiding the burning of the corpse in the common furnace, to find the rabbi and to conceal the religious rite from the other guards.
The film was the first full-length work of director László Nemes, and co-writer Klara Royer had never written a movie script before.
The actors were specially selected to speak the native language of their characters.
Remember
- IMDB Rating – 7.5
- Genre: Thriller, Drama, Detective
- Production: Canada, Mexico, Germany, South Africa / 2015
- Budget: CA$ 13,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $3,054,936
- Director: Atom Egoyan
- Starring: Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, Jürgen Prochnow, Henry Czerny, Dean Norris, Bruno Ganz, Jane Spidell, Sophia Wells, Heinz Lieven, Peter DaCuna
In an American nursing home, Zev Guttman, a widower, who as a young man went through the horrors of a concentration camp, is living out his days. The old man befriends Max Rosenbaum, who is confined to a wheelchair, and one day his friend reminds him of an old vow.
Zev promised to avenge the German officer Otto Walisch for the death of his family, but after the war to find the military officer failed. Max discovers that the Nazi has emigrated to the United States, posing as Rudy Kurlander. Zev goes in search of a blood enemy, not suspecting the unexpected denouement of the story.
Christopher Plummer volunteered to play the piano himself in relevant scenes in the movie.
Ida
- IMDB Rating – 7.4
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Poland, Denmark / 2013
- Worldwide Box Office: $11,156,836
- Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
- Starring: Agata Kulesza, Agata Trzebuchowska, Dawid Ogrodnik, Jerzy Trelia, Adam Szyszkowski, Halina Skoczynska, Joanna Kulig, Dorota Kuduk, Natalia Lagiewczyk, Aphrodite Weselak
The film is set in Poland in the 1960s, when the echoes of the Second World War have not yet subsided. The young novice Ida decides to visit her aunt Wanda before taking her vows – and is confronted with the cruel truth of life.
The relative ignored a flood of letters asking her to take her niece out of the orphanage because the girl was the daughter of Polish Jews. A few days spent with her overbearing and charismatic aunt will be an important lesson and invaluable experience for Ida.
The director had long been unable to find an actress with the right looks for the lead role, so he asked his friends to get involved in the process. One of his friends saw Agata in a café in Warsaw and persuaded her to come to the audition.
Poklosie
- IMDB Rating – 7.2
- Genre: Thriller, Drama
- Production: Poland, Russia, Netherlands / 2012
- Worldwide Box Office: $1,696,330
- Director: Wladyslaw Pasikowski
- Starring: Maciej Stur, Ireniusz Chop, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Danuta Szafliarska, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Zuzana Fialowa, Wojciech Zylinski, Danuta Borsiuk, Andrzej Mastależ, Anita Poddebniak
A European film about the Holocaust of Polish Jews reveals the unpalatable truth about the horrors of genocide. In 2001, Frantiszek Kalina returns home from the United States, where he had emigrated 20 years earlier. The man wants to check on his brother, but upon arrival unpleasant facts are revealed.
Jozef Kalina has become an outcast among his fellow villagers, and the reason for the cruel attitude lies in the family’s past. The roots of the story go back to the era of the Second World War, and the investigation leads to a feud between the brothers.
The idea for the film came to the director after the publication of historian Gross’s book Neighbors. The novel caused a major scandal in Poland, so Pasikowski emphasized fictional events, avoiding mentioning specific localities.
Paradise
- IMDB Rating – 7.0
- Genre: Military, Drama, History
- Production: Russia, Germany / 2016
- Budget: €4,635,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $921,242
- Director: Andrei Konchalovsky
- Starring: Julia Vysotskaya, Peter Kurth, Viktor Sukhorukov, Philippe Duquesne, Jean Denis Römer, Georg Lenz, Ramona Küntze-Libnow, Jakob Diehl, Vera Voronkova, Anna-Maria Danilenko
Jules, a former policeman, joins the Germans, starting a hunt for members of the Resistance movement. The traitor manages to discover a secret cell and betrays Olga, a Russian immigrant who was hiding Jewish children, to the Nazis. The woman is sent to a concentration camp, where she meets a familiar SS officer.
Before the war Olga had a fleeting vacation romance with Helmut, and after her vacation she never answered the letters of the German in love. The officer takes her beloved to his house under the guise of a housekeeper, but good intentions usually pave the road to hell.
Victor Sukhorukov does not speak a foreign language, so on the set spoke nonsense. Subsequently, the character was voiced by a German actor.
In Darkness
- IMDB Rating – 7.3
- Genre: Drama, Military
- Production: Poland, Germany, Canada / 2011
- Worldwide Box Office: $5,576,725
- Director: Agnieszka Holland
- Starring: Robert Wienckiewicz, Benno Furman, Agnieszka Grochowska, Maria Schrader, Herbert Knaup, Marcin Bosak, Julia Kijowska, Jerzy Walczak, Oliver Stanczak, Milla Bankowicz.
Leopold Socha is engaged in maintenance of the city collector, and in his spare time he is engaged in petty theft. When Lvov is occupied by the Nazi army, the boy accidentally meets fugitive Jews who are trying to avoid being sent to the ghetto.
Leopold agrees to hide his new acquaintances in the underground labyrinths of the sewers for a fee, but the business deal gradually grows into a desire to protect innocent people from the cruel reality.
The movie is dedicated to Marek Edelman, the leader of the armed uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Süskind
- IMDB Rating – 6.9
- Genre: Drama, Military, Biography, History
- Production: Netherlands / 2012
- Director: Rudolf van den Berg
- Starring: Katja Herbers, Tigo Gernandt, Karl Markovic, Erun Spitzenberger, Alan O’Silva, Ninke Bekhuizen, Dave Mantel, Hava Wor in-t Holt, Ramsey Nasr, Nasrdin Dhar.
Walter Süskind is an employee of the Judenrat, covering himself with a lucrative title for a good cause. Amsterdam is under occupation by Nazi troops, and a council of Jews must form groups to be sent to concentration camps.
Walter desperately searches for an effective way to save several hundred children who are soon to be deported to the ghetto. Together with other Jews and Dutchmen, Süskind organizes an underground community to help the children escape a painful death.
The movie is based on the real-life exploits of a German Jew who saved 600 children using connections to the German authorities.
La rafle
- IMDB Rating – 7.0
- Genre: Drama, Military, History
- Production: France, Germany, Hungary / 2010
- Budget: €20,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $12,911
- Director: Roslyn Bosch
- Starring: Jean Reno, Mélanie Laurent, Gad Elmaleh, Raphael Agoge, Hugo Leverdez, Joseph Weissman, Mathieu Di Concerto, Romain Di Concerto, Oliver Saivi, Sylvie Testu.
The plot of the war drama is devoted to the tragedy of the summer of 1942, when the Nazis forced Parisian officials to give them lists of Jews living in the city. On the first day of the search, 10,000 people were arrested, which entailed a brutal roundup.
In the early morning, Jewish families were sent to the local stadium, which lacked the facilities to hold people properly. Many prisoners committed suicide during the first days of captivity, as any attempt to escape ended in execution by firing squad, and German death camps awaited ahead.
The movie features real footage showing Adolf Hitler celebrating his birthday.
In the footsteps of the unknown Holocaust (film series)
- Genre: Documentary
- Production: Israel / 2011
- Director: Boris Maftsir
The documentary project tells the story of Jews who managed to survive the genocide during the German occupation. The film touches upon the Holocaust in Belarus, Ukraine and Latvia, and also covers the details of the catastrophe in Transnistria.
Details of the bygone events are voiced on camera by the direct participants and witnesses of the genocide.
Elle s’appelait Sarah
- IMDB Rating – 7.5
- Genre: Drama, Military
- Production: France / 2010
- Budget: €10,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $21,118,093
- Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner
- Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Melusine Mayans, Niels Arestrup, Frédéric Pierrot, Michel Duchossois, Dominique Frot, Natasha Mashkevich, Giselle Casadesu, Aidan Quinn, Sarah Behr.
France, mid-July 1942. More than 12,000 Jews were arrested by the Nazis. The captives were gathered at the Velodrome Vel d’Yves, and from there they were sent to Auschwitz. The French do not like to remember the dark pages of history called “Spring Wind”, because they were the perpetrators of civilian deaths.
American journalist Julia collects materials for an article about the tragic events in Paris, and accidentally learns that the owners of the rented apartment are Jews deported in 1942.
There are two storylines in the movie, one contemporary and one retrospective. This technique helped the director to connect the fates of Julia and the Jewish girl Sara.
Operation Finale
- IMDB Rating – 6.6
- Genre: Thriller, Drama, Military, Biography, History
- Production: USA / 2018
- Budget: $24,000,000
- US box office receipts: $17,612,099
- Director: Chris Weitz
- Starring: Oscar Isaac, Ben Kingsley, Melanie Laurent, Lior Raz, Nick Kroll, Michael Aronoff, Ohad Knoller, Greg Hill, Torben Liebrecht, Michael Benjamin Hernandez
The plot of the American Holocaust movie is based on real events and a real search for war criminals. In 1960 a group of Israeli intelligence agents goes to Argentina to arrest and then deport Nazi Adolf Eichmann. The Mossad agent has a personal grudge against the Sonderkommando, as they caused the deaths of his family. Before being sent to Israel, Adolf is taken to a safe house, and alone with the enemy it is difficult for the spy to keep his composure.
In one scene, Peter holds up a razor with the name of the town where Eichmann was born.
The Diary of Anne Frank
- IMDB Rating – 7.5
- Genre: Drama, Military, Biography, History
- Production: UK / 2009
- Director: John Jones
- Starring: Kate Ashfield, Joff Breton, Ron Cook, Tim Dantay, Roger Frost, Nicholas Farrell, Ian Glen, Tamsin Greg, Felicity Jones, Ellie Kendrick.
The plot of the telenovela is based on the true story of a teenage Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis for two years. In June 1942 Anna receives a red diary as a birthday present. A week later, the close-knit family is forced to move from their comfortable home to a manufacturing facility, where the girl finds refuge in the attic. Soon several Jews join the Franks – and the fugitives are forced to live in complete secrecy without giving themselves away.
It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t know Anna’s story, but even the presence of spoilers doesn’t take away from the intrigue of the viewing experience.
Sorstalanság
- IMDB Rating – 7.0
- Genre: Drama, Melodrama, Military
- Production: France, Germany, Hungary, Great Britain, Israel, France, USA / 2005
- Budget: HUF 2,500,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $2,280,297
- Director: Lajos Koltai
- Starring: Marcell Nagy, Bela Dora, Balint Pentek, Aron Dimen, Peter Fancicai, Zsolt Der, Andras M. Keckes, Dani Szabo, Tibor Merz, Peter Vida
Young Girka’s childhood is cut short when his father is taken to a labor camp. Rumors of crematoria, gas chambers, and labor camps spread through Budapest, and Hungarians entertain the hope that they will be spared the fate of the Poles.
The bewildered Hirka is sent to work, but a terrible fate awaits the Jews on their way out of the city. They are transported in wagons to concentration camps, where they are forced to face death every day. For Girka begins a long and grueling journey through the ghetto – from construction to hard and unchildlike work.
The movie is based on the novel of the same name by Nobel Laureate in Literature Imre Kertész.
Babi Yar
- IMDB Rating – 6.1
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Germany, Belarus / 2003
- Director: Jeff Canew
- Starring: Michael Degen, Barbara De Rossi, Katrin Zass, Axel Milberg, Gleb Porshnev, Anatoly Guriev, Alexander Marchenko, Klaus Ratsch, Mark Aizikovich, Mark Rudinshtein.
In the fall of 1941, the Soviet Army leaves Kiev, and chaos reigns in the city amid endless talk of the Nazis’ arrival. Horrible stories of German atrocities and the brutal extermination of Jews are passed from mouth to mouth. As the enemy approaches, tensions rise and fear restrains the will of the inhabitants.
Yesterday’s friends become judges and executioners of loved ones, and no one is able to stop the flywheel of massacre. While some Kiev citizens enroll in the police, others desperately try to help friends and neighbors.
In Babi Yar 150 thousand Jews were exterminated, and only 29 managed to escape.
The Grey Zone
- IMDB Rating – 7.0
- Genre: Drama, Military, History
- Production: USA / 2001
- Budget: $5,000,000
- US box office receipts: $517,872
- Director: Tim Blake Nelson
- Starring: David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, David Chandler, Allan Corduner, Daniel Bensali, Mira Sorvino, Natasha Lyonne, Michael Stuhlbarg, Harvey Keitel, Velizar Binev
During World War II, the Nazis created Sonderkommandos composed exclusively of Jews. Their duties included preparing prisoners for execution in the gas chamber and cleaning up crime scenes.
Those who agreed to become executioners for their fellow countrymen received privileges, while those who refused were shot. Only once in the history of the units’ existence did Jewish prisoners decide to organize an armed uprising to save the prisoners.
Filming on the grounds of Auschwitz was forbidden, so a model of the camp was built near Sofia.
Inglourious Basterds
- IMDB Rating – 8.3
- Genre: Action, Drama, Comedy, Military
- Production: Germany, USA / 2009
- Budget: $70,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $321,455,689
- Director: Quentin Tarantino
- Starring: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent, Daniel Brühl, Diane Kruger, Michael Fassbender, August Diehl, Eli Roth, Til Schweiger, Gedeon Burkhardt.
Lt. Aldo Raine forms a squad of Jewish American soldiers to fight back against the Nazis. The group acts brutally to intimidate and demoralize the Nazis, and soon word of the brave fighters reaches the top of the Reich. The squad’s commander is called “Apache” by the Germans as his subordinates scalp enemies.
At the same time a dangerous game is played by SS Colonel Hans Landa, who shows a talent for finding Jews. Only Susanne Dreyfus manages to escape from his cruel pursuer and decides to continue the glorious work of Rhein.
Quentin Tarantino worked on the script for over 10 years, and the filming process lasted only 2.5 months.
Denial
- IMDB Rating – 6.7
- Genre: Drama, Biography
- Production: UK, USA / 2016
- Budget: $10,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $7,994,527
- Director: Mick Jackson
- Starring: Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott, Jack Lowden, Karen Pistorius, Alex Jennings, Harriet Walter, Mark Gatiss, John Sessions
The plot develops around a high-profile trial, when writer David Irving filed a lawsuit against historian Deborah Lipstand. The author of books became famous for his categorical position on the subject of the Holocaust – the man denied the genocide of the people.
Deborah begins collecting evidence about the existence of concentration camps, but members of the Jewish community insist on resolving the case without a trial. The process can make Irving additional publicity, and the writer is ready to use his advantage to defend an unusual point of view.
The dialogues of the characters in the courtroom are taken from the actual hearing.
Phoenix
- IMDB Rating – 7.3
- Genre: Drama, Melodrama, History, Music
- Production: Germany, Poland / 2014
- Worldwide Box Office: $5,793,245
- Director: Christian Petzold
- Starring: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zerfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, Tristan Pütter, Michael Mertens, Imogen Kogge, Felix Romer, Uwe Proyss, Valerie Koch, Eva Baye
One of Europe’s Holocaust films takes a new look at the consequences of genocide. Nelly Lenz miraculously survives the concentration camp, but her peaceful life brings unpleasant surprises. After being severely wounded, the woman changes her disfigured face with plastic surgery – and goes in search of her husband.
Rumors about her husband reach Nelly, and she refuses to believe in the betrayal of a loved one. Meeting Johannes at the Phoenix Cafe, Lenz is convinced of the truthfulness of the information, but decides to take a gamble.
The picture is a loose adaptation of the French novel “Rising from the Ashes”.
Lidice
- IMDB Rating – 6.8
- Genre: Drama, Military, History
- Production: Czech Republic, Slovakia / 2011
- Budget: CZK 65 000 000
- Director: Petr Nikolaev
- Starring: Karel Roden, Zuzana Fialova, Zuzana Bydzovska, Roman Luknar, Marek Adamczyk, Jan Budář, Ondrej Novák, Adam Kubista, Veronika Kubářová, Detlef Bote.
This small Czech village is another symbol of the inhuman cruelty of the Nazis. The inhabitants of Lidice were exterminated in a punitive operation aimed at terrorizing civilians helping the partisan movement.
Frantisek Sima is known in the village for his love affairs, which offends his eldest son. The boy’s resentment gradually grows into anger and erupts into a major quarrel. As a result of the skirmish, the young man dies, and his father is sent to prison, which allows Frantisek to escape the terrible plot of his fellow villagers.
German propaganda during World War II concealed information about the genocide of civilians, but the Nazis made an exception for Lidice.
W ukryciu
- IMDB Rating – 5.6
- Genre: Thriller, Drama, Melodrama, Military
- Production: Poland / 2013
- Director: Jan Kidawa-Bloński
- Starring: Magdalena Bocharska, Julia Pogrebińska, Tomasz Kot, Krzysztof Stroinski, Jacek Braczak, Agata Kulesza, Przemyslaw Bluszcz, Maciej Mikolajszyk, Maciej Marczewski, Bożena Dykel.
After the death of her mother, young Yanka is left with her father, who decides to shelter a young Jewish girl, Esther, in the house. The girl is the daughter of his old friend, so the man cannot refuse to help the fugitive. Yanka fears for her own life, because another search can lead to severe punishment.
After the arrest of her father, the girl is forced to take care of Esther, being in complete isolation from the outside world. The only safe haven is a small room under the floor, and the end of the war is still months away.
Not all audiences met favorably with the film, in which the theme of the Holocaust is closely intertwined with a demonstration of same-sex love.
