Pop Smart - The best Holocaust movie, coming out on DVD?
In my online-only review of The Counterfeiters, I offered some subtle comparisons and contrasts to Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, which, despite the impression I may have given, is a bona fide masterpiece in my book. A not very subtle one, but a masterpiece nevertheless.
That said, one could make the argument that the best movie about the Holocaust may have been done long before that. As a kid growing up, I was stunned at the 1978 TV mini-series Holocaust, which finally will be released on DVD by Paramount May 27. Besides helping launch the careers of Meryl Streep, James Woods and Michael Moriarty, Holocaust did about as well as prime-time TV could back then in conveying the horror, degradation and human suffering of the period. There’s plenty of brutality, rape and death to give the viewer an idea of what happened. The mini-series won eight Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes. Not too shabby.
Here’s a clip of the show … remember, Streep plays a non-Jew ...
What’s your favorite feature film about the Holocaust? (Documentaries don’t count.) For me, it’s Holocaust, Schindler’s List, Sophie’s Choice, The Counterfeiters and The Pianist, with honorable mentions to The Diary of Anne Frank, Europa Europa and the 1987 TV movie Escape from Sobibor. (Don’t get me started on Life Is Beautiful).