Monthly Archives: August 2010

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Holocaust Movie Quotes Film Quiz 6

Today´s quiz is an addition to the post of yesterday about Triumph of the Spirit. The quotes below are all taken from Holocaust movies.

The following movies are hidden behind the quotes: La vita è bella aka Life is beautiful, Schindler´s List, Sophie´s Choice, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Pianist,  Triumph of the Spirit, and Holocaust. Do you recognize the quotes? The solutions are just above the respective movie.

Movie 1

“I could have got more out. I could have got more. I don’t know. If I’d just… I could have got more.”
“Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.”
“If I’d made more money… I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I’d just… ”
“There will be generations because of what you did.”
“I didn’t do enough!”
“You did so much.”
[… looks at his car]
“This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.”
[removing Nazi pin from lapel]
“This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this.”
[sobbing]
“I could have gotten one more person… and I didn’t! And I… I didn’t!”

Movie 2

It’s an official decree, no Jews allowed in the parks.
“What, are you joking?”
“No, I’m not. I would suggest we sit down on a bench, but that’s also an official decree, no Jews allowed on benches.”
“This is absurd.”
“So, we should just stand here and talk, I don’t think we’re not allowed to do that.”

Movie 3

“Listen, I’m only going to say this once. For those who can hear me tell the rest. First come the SS, our lord and masters. Then comes our block health manager, Kyr. Then come the assistants, Otto and me. Then come the rats. Then come the lice… and then come you.”

Movie 4

“There is no hope! Karl is in prison and Rudi ran away! Never a word from him! And Papa, in Poland, where it’s like they came after him! Mama, you’re acting as if this is a play. Writing letters. Talking about Papa’s patients.”
“It does no harm.”
“You always had that notion that you were someone special, so fine, so educated! The Nazis would never hurt you or your children! And look! Look what’s happened to us!”
[sobs hysterically]
“Anna, your mother can’t be blamed.”
“New Year’s Eve! And who knows if any one of us will be alive for the next New Year!”

Movie 5

“No Jews or Dogs Allowed.” Why do all the shops say, “No Jews Allowed”?
“Oh, that. “Not Allowed” signs are the latest trend! The other day, I was in a shop with my friend the kangaroo, but their sign said, “No Kangaroos Allowed,” and I said to my friend, “Well, what can I do? They don’t allow kangaroos.”
“Why doesn’t our shop have a “Not Allowed” sign?”
“Well, tomorrow, we’ll put one up. We won’t let in anything we don’t like. What don’t you like?”
“Spiders.”
“Good. I don’t like Visigoths. Tomorrow, we’ll get sign: “No Spiders or Visigoths Allowed.”

Movie 6

“You’re so beautiful. I’d like to get you in bed. Are you a polack? You! Are you also one of those filthy communists?”
[walks away]
“I am a pole! I was born in Cracow! I am not a Jew. Neither are my children! They’re not Jews. They are racially pure. I am a Christian. I am a devout Christian.”
[the officer comes back]
“You are not a communist? You are a believer.”
“Yes sir, I believe in Christ.”
“You believe in Christ the redeemer?”
“Yes.”
[looks at the children] “Did He not say… “Suffer the children, come unto me?” ”
[…remains silent]
“You may keep one of your children.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You may keep one of your children. The other must go away.”
“You mean, I have to choose?”
“You are a Polack, not a Yid. That gives you a privilidge, a choice.”
“I can’t choose. I can’t choose!”
“Be quiet.”
“I can’t choose!”
“Make a choice. Or I’ll send both of them over there. Make a choice.”
“Don’t make me choose! I can’t!”
“Shut up! Enough! I’ll send them both over there! I told you to shut up! Make a choice!”
“I can’t choose! Please! I can’t choose!”
[to an officer] “Take BOTH children away!”

Movie 7

“I know it’s terrible trying to have any faith when people are doing such horrible… But you know what I sometimes think? I think the world may be going through a phase, the way I was with mother. It’ll pass. Maybe not hundreds of years, but someday. – I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart.”

If you liked this quiz, don´t miss some of the others:

Vietnam Movie Quotes 3

Film Pictures Quiz

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Triumph of the Spirit (1989) or The Story of Salamo Arouch and how he survived Auschwitz

Salamo Arouch, a young Greek of Jewish descent became middle weight boxing champion of the Balkans in 1939. All his 24 fights ended with a KO. An absolute record. Surely he would have had a stunning career. Instead after Germany invaded Greece he and his family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau together with thousands of other Greek Jews in March 1943.

While the women of the family were gassed on the first day of their arrival, Salamo, his father and his brother were coerced into forced labour. Once the guards found out that he was a famous boxer they forced him to fight other prisoners for the entertainment of the Nazis. The loser would be gassed mercilessly. Somehow Arouch survived Auschwitz winning 208 fights by KO. After the liberation he emigrated to Palestine and witnessed the foundation of the state of Israel.

This incredible story, starring Willem Dafoe (at his absolute best) as Salamo Arouch is told in Triumph of the Spirit. Shot on location at Auschwitz this is one of the most impressive movies on the Holocaust I have ever seen. It feels spooky to know that we are actually seeing the very  place where all this happened. Salamo Arouch came back to Auschwitz as an advisor during the shooting of this movie. He died in April 2009.

I had so many questions while watching this… So many thoughts… What was it like to go back there after having endured all this? What was it like for the actors to play in such a movie in such a place that was saturated in pain? Can you still feel this? And what was it like to play a prisoner of Auschwitz? I think this must be one of the hardest roles for any actor. I was also wondering if this movie would not be good material to teach Auschwitz and the theme of the concentration camps in schools. And I was wondering, once more, how all this could have happened. When you see the guards, hit the prisoners, see how malnourished they are, so hungry that they would almost kill their own for a tiny piece of bread. The way they had to sleep with such little space. When you watch how thousands are forced to take showers but were ultimately gassed. When you see the piles of clothes, shoes, hair, jewelry… and the piles of bodies that had to be cremated. How could anyone help in any of this? How could that happen? I think we need to have such movies, we need to know what humans are capable of, and stay alert and never let this happen again.

Another question I was asking myself was: Would I like to visit Auschwitz? I must admit, I wouldn´t. I believe that places can store pain. I would not want to get this close to it. What about you? Would you want to visit Auschwitz?

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Oliver Stone: One of the Greatest Film and War Movie Directors

When I watched Savior the other day, knowing it was produced by Oliver Stone, I thought of all the outstanding anti- war movies this man has done. Many film directors have chosen to do war movies but there are just a few that we associate more with the genre than others.

His trilogy of Vietnam war movies is probably known by almost anyone. Platoon is one of my Top Ten favourite ones, but I think Born on the 4th of July is equally powerful. Heaven and Earth, the third one, may be a bit less accomplished but maybe we have to see them all together as three different points of view of one war.

His name stands for many other extremely good movies that often circle around the themes of war and violence. War movie purists would not mention Alexander when speaking about war movies, I think it is debatable. What is not debatable is that  Alexander is highly watchable.

Salvador is without any doubt a further war movie. The Doors has a look at  the Vietnam war, politicians like JFK and Nixon have to be associated with war. You could say that Wall Street is the war of the brokers and Natural Born Killers  a personal war.

And even World Trade Center could be called a war movie (actually the only one I have not seen because of the obnoxious Nicolas Cage).

For me The Doors is Oliver Stone´s only failure. As much as I normally like Val Kilmer, as Jimmy Morrison he was just sacrilegious.

Be it as it may, Oliver Stone is an interesting film director.

I posted two tributes to him, both from Film Festivals, one from Austin and the other one from Zürich.

They are a bit different in as much as the Zürich one also shows some bits of interviews with Oliver Stone whereas the Austin one is purely dedicated to his movies.

Do you have a favourite Oliver Stone movie? I must admit that apart from Platoon I have watched Alexander more than once.

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The Admiral aka Admiral (2008): Not a Russian Master & Commander but Anna Karenina meets the Russian Revolution

I am not sure how many people outside of Russia know Admiral Kolchak. I’m afraid not a great many. At least I did not know him. But not knowing this historical figure  may  lead to an odd situation. Either people  watch this movie for the wrong reasons and will be disappointed or they might not watch it at all. This would actually be a pity since The Admiral is a very sumptuous movie. Beautifully filmed and very gripping.

As stated in the title The Admiral is not a Russian Master & Commander. After the initial ten minutes of naval battle scenes there is no more fighting on ships. These initial ten minutes however are very gruesome and intense. After this sequence the movie starts to resemble Anna Karenina for many reasons. It is a beautiful tale of tragic adulterous love and full of portents, like the breaking glass at the ball in the beginning which reminded me of the accident scene in Anna Karenina. (By pure chance I have just very recently watched Anna Karenina,  that is why I realised how very similar they are with regards to the love story apart from the fact that this is a true story.)

The love story between Kolchak and Anna, who are both married when they meet,  is only one part of the movie. It  is interwoven with the part  that follows Admiral Kolchak.  1917 after he has  successfully fought the Germans at sea, the Russian Revolution strikes and changes everything for the aristocracy. Kolchak flees to Japan and returns after a few months to head the anti-Bolshevik white troops that were to fight the Red troops. This is the beginning of the Russian Civil War that we see in all its ugliness. If Kolchak had been succesful there would maybe never have been a Soviet Union. Well, he was not successful. In the end he is taken prisoner and sentenced. Anna, the woman he loves, follows him even though they would have let her go. Quite a sacrifice.

It is quite a fascinating story and I have a feeling I am not doing it justice here. If you are interested in history, and especially Russian history, you should watch it. If you like tragic love stories then you should watch it as well.

My only reservations regard the flow. There a quite a few breaks in the movie, it seems a bit disrupted at times.

Do not watch the trailer as it is highly misleading and gives the impression of a pure naval combat movie.

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Savior (1998): An Extremely Grim Movie about the War in Bosnia

Thanks to TPC who commented on my post “Welcome to Sarajevo” I discovered this movie and have finally watched it.

Oh – my – God.

Before even trying to attempt to describe this movie let me quote from a NY Times review by Stephen Holden:

As Mr. Quaid’s character, Guy, perilously makes his way through the war-torn countryside, the film portrays a land whose people, regardless of ethnicity, have been reduced to animalistic survival tactics by the violence that has devastated the region. The war has turned seemingly ordinary people into potential murderers, rapists and torturers. And the movie’s unblinking scenes of atrocities are among the most graphic and upsetting ever shown in a commercial film.

This sums up quite a lot. Savior is really heavy stuff and so depressing. The goriest battle scenes from any WWI, WWII or Vietnam movie can never get as depressing as this. Like the war in Rwanda. A tribal war.

Gritty realism is not all we see and I did have my problems with this movie. There is  a very Christian undertone all through it. Or not even an undertone, rather a loud drone. The character change of Guy (Dennis Quaid) is psychologically not very convincing. I can understand that he goes berserk after his wife and his son get blown up in a terrorist attack but from then on… He escapes with his friend (Stellan Skarsgard – not one of his better roles and far too short) to the French Foreign Legion and from there we follow him to Bosnia where he is fighting as a mercenary on the side of the Serbs. We see him commit atrocities until he and another soldier, Goran, get to drive Vera, a pregnant young woman back to her family. She has been raped by a muslim and is now being treated as if it was her fault. Her fellow Serbs hate, blame  and despise her for this. Goran is a brute and what we see him do to an old woman and later to Vera is almost not watchable. I tell you, not for one second do you want to imagine yourself in the situation of one of those women.

The illustration of women as victims in war movies does find its sad culmination point in Savior.

After Vera has given birth under the most inhuman circumstances something snaps in Guy and he seems to reclaim  his humanity. From then on he is “The Savior”. It is not very subtle that the filmmakers chose to show us repeatedly that Guy is wearing  a cross with a three-dimensional Christ nailed to it.

The bleak parts that deal purely with this godforsaken war are overwhelming. Maybe it would really have been too hard to watch if they hadn’t tried to gloss it over a bit. Be is as it may… This movie exudes such an honest try at showing the atrocities of this war that I really think it should be watched. What makes me extremely thoughtful is to think that if these atrocities had been invented by a script writer we would say: “What a sick mind!”. But this did happen… And not even so long ago…

A brief remark about the music. This movie has a very beautiful score, in parts traditional regional folk songs sung by mysteriously haunting female voices. Some of it can be heard in the trailer.

What do you think? Any people from ex Yugoslavia reading this? Is Welcome to Sarajevo the better movie?

I am not sure if Welcome to Sarajevo is better, but it is less controversial. When it comes to liking I must admit I am partial to Savior. I liked it much more than Welcome to Sarajevo. There is something in the character of Guy that I could relate to. Probaly his utter loneliness that encloses him like an aura. This cold sniper personality  he is wearing to shield himself and hide that he has been deeply wounded… I don’t approve of his acts, of course, but from an emotional point of view I think I get him.