ChanFamous
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Doomtomylo
a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Geraldine
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
chrissso
Life in the ghettos of Poland … we can't see it enough … the lessons are that important! Lives condemned to Purgatory … stripped of their possessions … relocated … waiting for the trains … waiting for "resettlement" … waiting to see if the unthinkable was more than rumor.The feeling of hopelessness would be overwhelming … yet the feeling of hope would also be present as that is human nature … and that is perfectly captured in this remarkable East German film! It is a cleaver script that makes a clever statement. The acting in the film by all principals was superb, as was the location and sets. It just looked and felt so accurate. More so the ending was an incredibly well done! Who would think that such a great film could come out of E Germany in 1975! And talk about aging well!!! Highly recommended!!! PS: Agree with the review that stated that "the English captioning for this film is pretty poor." I don't speak German but could easily tell it was off. 8/10
MartinHafer
This East German movie is a very unusual movie about the Holocaust because it focuses on life within the ghetto. However, the film seemed a bit sanitized in how the residents looked and how they were treated. Unlike some later films, some of the Jews in this film looked awfully well-fed and conditions didn't seem all that bad. The cattle car where the remaining Jews were placed seemed rather spacious and not all that bad either--even though in reality many died on the cars due to conditions. In addition, some of the German soldiers seemed pretty nice. Perhaps this might have been that the Soviet-dominated East Germans were more willing to talk about their sordid past but were still struggling with fully accepting it. Whatever is the case, this aspect of the film did surprise me a bit.Now as for the rest of the film, it was marvelous and provided an odd insight into life in the ghettos. The acting was excellent and the film is very much worth seeing, though not nearly as compelling as THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET, SCHINDLER'S LIST or AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS. I have not seen the recent remake starring Robin Williams, so I can't really compare the two, but my inclination is almost always to go with the originals.PS--The English captioning for this film is pretty poor. Instead of directly translating what is said, it's often summarized or even wrong. My knowledge of German isn't too bad, and several times what they said did not correspond at all to the captioning. You can't blame the film makers for this, but the company that released the film.
medena_20
This is an interesting film. However, I must say that I was very disappointed at the end. I expected something totally different. First, I thought it would be a comedy. But soon I found out that this was not the case. The film is about Jacob, an old Jewish man. He lies throughout the movie that he has a Radio, just to keep the hopes up of the people around him. Everyday he tells the people around him that the Russians are moving closer and that soon they will be free from the Nazis. As the movie goes on things get more complicated and at the end he decides to tell the truth, but no one believes him. Even though he had good intentions, Jacob did not achieve his objective. All he did is cause more problems in the ghetto.
dijaz
The role of Jacob is that he is a Jewish man who lives in Poland at the time of the Nazi-rule. He falsely tells a coworker about a radio he owns and he tells him good news about the Russian Army getting closer and closer everyday. This lie spreads quickly thru the Jewish ghetto and immediately all coworkers ask Jacob daily about news. In desperation Jacob makes up good news and spreads them around the ghetto. As the movie moves along it shows violence and prosecution of the Jewish people. At the end of the movie the ghetto including Jacob leave their home town and head in unknown direction. Jacob lied about the radio and spread good news to keep hope and live in his community. He did not reach his goal because his predictions of freedom of Jews never occurred.Bernandin Mali
