Product Description

1st Prize - Vienna Film Festival. Grand Prize - Venice Film Festival. It is wartime - 1944, and Europe is brutalized by the horror of Nazi aggression and inhumanity. In the tiny Czech village of Terezin, the Nazis plan a propaganda coup to reshape the international opinion. In a master scheme to show a caring face of Nazism, Hitler has given the village to Jewish settlers as a place where they can live in freedom, reassuring a Red Cross delegation - and the world - of their peaceful intentions towards Jews. To provide a convincing "show," the Nazis have plucked the great French mime, Antoine Moreau (Tom Courtenay), from his waning career and ordered him to put on the greatest show of his life. The Reich spares no expense in providing the finest sets, orchestra and costumes. In return he will receive a generous fee and guaranteed return to Paris. But Antoine becomes driven with the need to tell the world the truth, regardless of personal risk. Although in mime he knows his lips must be sealed, now, as never before, his voice must be heard.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60555 in DVD
• Brand: Koch International
• Released on: 2005-01-11
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: Czech, English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 106 minutes

Customer Reviews

The Holocaust for Children
Of all the holocaust movies I've seen, I can't recall any others that focus on the children. Parents who would like to teach their children about the holocaust of the Jews during W.W.II would do well to show their children this movie because it is something to which they would be able to relate. There is little, if any bad language or violence; there is one brief sex scene between the mime and the children's teacher. On the whole, it is a wholesome movie about a great evil.

Quite a bit has been written by some other reviewers regarding Stella's fully naked body shown in one scene. It needs to be emphasized that it is in no way erotic; it is simply the thinking of a young girl who has been living in a dorm where baths and simply changing clothes would be in full view of the others, much like the Jewish Kibbutz children in Palestine during the same era. The only observation I would make is that it seems inconsistent for her to get in the tub with her underwear on, say "no looking" and then a few minutes later come into the next room innocently naked.

Another interesting element in this movie is that the mime was not Jewish. He, in fact, was held in suspicion by the Jews for some time. Parents, especially of Jewish children, might want to point out to their children that it wasn't just Jews the Germans killed.

The reason I don't give this five stars is that the whole episode seems to have been pointless. There is no evidence that anyone except the German officers and Jews, people within the ghetto, got the message of the Hansel & Gretel mime play. Apparently, the Red Cross people didn't understand the message, and were even so stupid they would buy that the mime had already left the camp for Paris only a few minutes after the show.

The main value of this movie is that it is one that can be used to show children what the ghettos during The Holocaust were like in a way that the children can relate.

[There is now a 2005 movie entitled "Fateless" that deals with a child's view of the Holocost. It is about a 14-year-old boy who is taken off a Budapest bus and sent to the concentration camps. He survivied the experience, and it is based on his actual real-life experiences. Unfortunately, it is in Hungarian, with subtitles. However, it is a NY Times 'Critic's Pick' movie and I feel it it worth watching even with the subtitiles.]

Dubbed
I am very irritated that Amazon does not list anywhere that this movie is dubbed. I'm also irritated that it's dubbed in the first place. Thank you to everyone who wrote a review mentioning that this film is dubbed since Amazon neglected to provide this information at all. I would buy this movie if they offered a subtitled version.

You don't get better then this!
A must for all who care about what happened to the Jews or gypsies in Germany and throughout Europe from the 1930's until the end of the war.This film is both moving and entertaining. It should be shown in all high schools around the country and throughout the world. A film for all serious movie buffs.