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Escape from Sobibor

  • TV Movie
  • 1987
  • Not Rated
  • 2h 23m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
10K
YOUR RATING
Alan Arkin, Rutger Hauer, and Joanna Pacula in Escape from Sobibor (1987)
DramaHistoryWar

German death camp in Sobibor, Poland, killed two hundred fifty thousand Jews. It had the most successful prisoner escape in World War II on October 14, 1943.German death camp in Sobibor, Poland, killed two hundred fifty thousand Jews. It had the most successful prisoner escape in World War II on October 14, 1943.German death camp in Sobibor, Poland, killed two hundred fifty thousand Jews. It had the most successful prisoner escape in World War II on October 14, 1943.

  • Director
    • Jack Gold
  • Writers
    • Thomas 'Toivi' Blatt
    • Richard Rashke
    • Reginald Rose
  • Stars
    • Alan Arkin
    • Joanna Pacula
    • Rutger Hauer
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.3/10
    10K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Jack Gold
    • Writers
      • Thomas 'Toivi' Blatt
      • Richard Rashke
      • Reginald Rose
    • Stars
      • Alan Arkin
      • Joanna Pacula
      • Rutger Hauer
    • 99User reviews
    • 14Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 5 Primetime Emmys
      • 3 wins & 6 nominations total

    Photos34

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    Top cast45

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    Alan Arkin
    Alan Arkin
    • Leon Feldhendler
    Joanna Pacula
    Joanna Pacula
    • Luka
    Rutger Hauer
    Rutger Hauer
    • Alexander 'Sasha' Pechersky
    Hartmut Becker
    • Sgt. Gustav Wagner
    Jack Shepherd
    Jack Shepherd
    • Itzhak Lichtman
    Emil Wolk
    • Samuel
    Simon Gregor
    • Shlomo
    Linal Haft
    Linal Haft
    • Oberkapo Porchek
    Jason Norman
    • Toivi Blatt
    Robert Gwilym
    Robert Gwilym
    • Chaim Engel
    Eli Nathenson
    • Moses Szmajzner
    Kurt Raab
    Kurt Raab
    • Sgt. Frenzel
    Eric P. Caspar
    • Capt. Franz Reichleitner
    Hugo Bower
    • Sgt. Beckmann
    Klaus Grünberg
    • Sgt. Bauer
    • (as Klaus Grunberg)
    Wolfgang Bathke
    • Sgt. Hurst
    Henning Gissel
    • Sgt. Fallaster
    Henry Stolow
    • Lt. Niemann
    • Director
      • Jack Gold
    • Writers
      • Thomas 'Toivi' Blatt
      • Richard Rashke
      • Reginald Rose
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews99

    7.310.4K
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    Featured reviews

    7ma-cortes

    Good television movie about the known breakout from horrible concentration camp

    This excellent TV movie deals with extermination center Sobibór and the subsequent escape led by great actors as Alan Arkin and Rutger Hauer . We see horrors , murders , massacres against the prisoners . Thus , when the incoming transports , mostly Jews , SS soldiers made instant decisions , those who were fit to labors were sent into the camp , others including the children , were dispatched immediately to the gas chambers where approximately one-quarter million Jews were executed . The movie gets a breathtaking and exciting getaway with a sensitive score by George Delerue . The film was well realized by Jack Gold developing compellingly the historical recreation of the escape from the Nazi Death Camp Sobibor .

    The picture is based on real events , these are the followings : Sobibór , Chelmno , Belzec and Treblinka were four large death camps in the Lublin district of Poland transformed into extermination centers to implement the policy of genocide thought at the Wannsee Conference . Sobibór was an extermination camp of killing center of Jews including children and located near the Bug River on the border of the German occupied eastern territories . Some 35.000 Dutch Jews , originally assigned to Auschwitz were sent to Sobibór . All four camps were under the command of SS Odilo Globocnick . There was some minor industrial activity linked to the war effort but the main work was the execution of inmates . Victims were brought to the camp in unventilated transports , and all but a handful were gassed after arrival , the gas chambers could accommodate hundred prisoners at one time , most of their corpses were burned in open pits . On October 14, 1943 about 150 inmates broke out in a desperate riot . Of approximately 600 prisoners who attempted escaped in October 1943 , around 300 succeeded . However, nearly all were ultimately recaptured ; only about 60 people survived . Sobibor along with Treblinka and Belzec , was evacuated in the fall of 1943.
    7briancham1994

    Bloody and impactful

    This film has very direct blood and violence but it is never used in a distasteful way. The filmmakers have done a good job with the graphic scenes that also have an emotional impact. Compared to Schindler's List, this film has a more hopeful tone but it has the same amount of tension. There are so many characters shocked by the constant brutality of their situation but they decide to take action instead of resigning themselves. This film is gripping from beginning to end, with incredible tension and stakes.
    10Fella_shibby

    The partner in death scene n the naked gas chamber scene will give u sleepless nights.

    I first saw this in the early 2k on cable tv.

    The gas chamber scene with the naked people in line n the dog attack scene stayed with me n haunted my sleep for months.

    Revisited it recently on a dvd which I own.

    The movie is very poignant n grim at times but the escape n the deaths of the Nazis will put smile.

    Alan Arkin gave a memorable performance.

    Simon Gregor, as Shlomo is noteworthy n Rutger Hauer is always a treat to watch.
    paulvaughanthomas

    lasting impression

    It was interesting to read another viewer's comments about this film. I have seen Schindler's List and it didn't touch me anywhere near as deeply as Escape from Sobibor. I first watched it in my teens and it was this film, more than anything I'd seen previously about the Holocaust, which had the greatest impact. The story, of course, is based on truth and is full of painful, heart-wrenching scenes. Nothing has ever presented the Holocaust to me in a more vivid, more graphic, more powerful way.

    It's amusing that some people can watch a film and it barely registers with them. Others can see the same film and have a completely different reaction to the experience. But that's people for you, the great variety that is the spice of life. For me, Escape from Sobibor was a very emotional experience and it had a major impact on me. But don't take anyone else's word for it. We all see things differently - go and see it yourself.
    8BJJManchester

    Superb but Horrifying

    One of the best films best about the Nazi holocaust,and the atrocities committed in the concentration camps,ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR is based on a true story of an heroic uprising in one of these camps of death and horror.Some of the scenes depicted are so horrific that they are very hard to watch,but we are left cheering at the escape at the end as a reaction to the brutalities and inhumanity we witness beforehand.

    The cast is excellent,with fine actors such as Alan Arkin,Jack Shepherd,Rutger Hauer on-hand,but a special note should be made of Harmut Becker's performance as the evil,sadistic,murdering monster Sgt Wagner.He is completely without any redeeming features whatsoever,and Becker is totally convincing in the part.I wished this character to come to a enormously nasty end,though he didn't get it;the end credits inform us that Wagner was murdered in a fascist South American country in 1978.

    British director Jack Gold is a talented director who made a few decent big-screen films,but his best work was left for TV films like THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT,CATHOLICS,and GOODNIGHT MR TOM.This may be his best.

    More like this

    Sobibor
    6.4
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    7.1
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    7.4
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    Lore
    7.1
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    The Hiding Place
    7.3
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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Out of about 300 prisoners who escaped to the woods from Sobibor, only about 60 survived until the end of the war.
    • Goofs
      Shlomo Szmajzner actually had three "brothers" that he requested be kept with him (his real brother, his cousin, and his nephew).
    • Quotes

      Lt. "Sasha" Pechersky: Listen to me! Our day has come! Most of the SS are dead! It's everyone for himself now!

      Leon Feldhendler: Those of you who survive, bear witness! Let the world know what has happened here! God is with you! Now let nothing stop you!

      [escape begins]

    • Alternate versions
      Some television broadcasts of the movie, in particular the version which was shown on the History Channel, cut a lengthy scene after the escape attempt at the beginning of the film (attempted by a work detail cutting through the camp fence with garden tools) where the detail is shot dead with their bodies then displayed to the rest of the camp as a warning. In the cut version, there is no mention of what happened to these escapees after their escape attempt.
    • Connections
      Featured in The 39th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1987)
    • Soundtracks
      Roses from the South
      (uncredited)

      Written by Johann Strauss

      Played at the dance

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 12, 1987 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Bekstvo iz Sobibora
    • Filming locations
      • Belgrade, Serbia
    • Production companies
      • Rule/starger
      • Zenith Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 23 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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