bolobill

I can't really add to the other reviews. This is one of the best documentaries I've seen, and the best on this subject. It really was a case of lions being led by donkeys. I am including a poem by Wilfred Owen (killed a few days before the end of the war in a meaningless assault) that sums up what happened:

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went, And took the fire with him, and a knife. And as they sojourned both of them together, Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father, Behold the preparations, fire and iron, But where the lamb, for this burnt-offering? Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps, And builded parapets and trenches there, And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son. When lo! an Angel called him out of heaven, Saying, Lay not they hand upon the lad, Neither do anything to him, thy son. Behold! Caught in a thicket by its horns, A Ram. Offer the Ram of Pride instead.

But the old man would not so, but slew his son, And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

I saw Melanie Griffith interviewed when this movie first came out, and she talked excitedly about 6 million Jews being killed by the Nazis as though she had just heard of it. I have avoided seeing this movie ever since.

However, I did not avoid it long enough.

This movies stunk. It was totally unbelievable. The script was terrible. The acting was worse. It was almost as though they believed that they were making a war-time movie.

At no point are any of the characters believable. And the performances can be best summed up by the old Robert Benchley quote -- "The performance ran the gamut of emotions from A to B." The only thing that saved the careers of the main performers is probably that very few people ever saw this film.

Beware! Avoid this movie at all costs.