Super outstanding film dealing with the exploits of Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg. He saved a great number of Hungarian Jews marked for extermination during the Holocaust.
Richard Chamberlain was never better in any of his mini-series. Proudly nicknamed the king of mini-series, Chamberlain etched an unforgettable portrayal of this hero for all times.
The story begins as Chamberlain, a young Swedish college student from an affluent family, mocks Adolf Hitler. Truth be told, the world didn't know the horrors that this all-time modern madman would heap on modern civilization.
How Chamberlain (Wallenberg) ran with Swedish documents and passed them out to Hungarian Jews was memorable. Instantaneously, the Hungarian Jews were Swedish citizens and therefore protected under Swedish authority.
Remember the miracle when, at the end of the war, many Hungarian Jews lost their protection and were placed in a barn that the Nazis were ready to blow up. Who can forget their faces as they huddled together and chanted the "shema" to sanctify the al-mighty's name? It would be left to Wallenberg to rescue them at the last minute from certain death.
Needless to say, the world was a much poorer place when Wallenberg was arrested by the Soviets,imprisoned, and never heard from again.
He is certainly a leading member of the righteous-those Christians who risked their lives to save Jews during the darkest period of history in this century.
Chamberlain gave a phenomenal performance which will long be remembered.
