rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2001; made for television
Directed by Jon Avnet; produced by Jon Avnet, Raffaella De Laurentiis, Jordan Kerner; written by Paul Brickman, Jon Avnet
Starring Leelee Sobieski, Hank Azaria, David Schwimmer, Jon Voight, Donald Sutherland, Stephen Moyer, Cary Elwes
If you have seen 'The Pianist', to compare is the only logical thing to do when it comes to the early scenes in both films. Like 'The Pianist', 'Uprising' starts in 1939 with the Nazis invading Poland. I have to admit that I was impressed here, because most things looked exactly the same as in the Roman Polanski film, which is one of the most impressing Holocaust-film experiences I have had. Both films show us the Warsaw-ghetto and there the first little differences are shwon.
In 'The Pianist' it that place really looked like hell, so terrible there
could not be a worse place in the world. In
Jon Avnet's
'Uprising' it looks like a place where you would rather not be, but
especially the main characters are still in pretty good clothes and look
quite happy and too optimistic. May be they already knew what they were
going to do almost three years later. Also, the ghetto in 'The Pianist' is a lot more crowdy.
'The Pianist' also shows the horror more often, more cruel and without any
emotions, shocking every single time. But in the first place 'Uprising' is not
a film about the horrors, but about a group of heroes. So here is where the
comparison has to end. 'The Pianist' follows one survivor out of the
ghetto, surviving with pure luck. In 'Uprising' we follow the group
that eventually will start the uprising in the Warsaw-ghetto. Early in
this film we see the person who was appointed by the Nazis to keep the Jews
calm, sort of a President, Adam Czerniakow (Donald Sutherland). I was not
aware that such a character existed. Small details like this elevate the
story to a higher level.
We follow Tosia (Leelee Sobieski) who doesn't look like a Jew and goes out
of the ghetto to arrange weapons. Mordechai (Hank Azaria) is the leader of
the group, his friend is Yitzhak (David Schwimmer). Eventually he is also
outside the ghetto-walls together with Frania (Alexandra Holden). He
replaces Arie (Eric Lively) who was caught and tortured by the Germans. They try
to arrange things with the Polish resistance. Some other main characters are
introduced: Kazik (Stephen Moyer), and
Zivia (Sadie Frost), Mira (Radha Mitchell) and Devorah (Mili Avital) who are
the three girlfriends/wives of Mordechai, Yitzhak and Kazik. Maybe it sounds
a little hard to keep track but on screen that will not be a problem.
We see how the Jews fight, how they are pushed back, how they try to
arrange things and feel alive for the time they have left. We also see how the Germans react, especially Major-General
Jurgen Stroop (Jon Voight). For me it looked all very realistic and probably
this was how it all happened. The only thing that kept irritating me were
the ridiculous accents. I kept asking why they still do that. Of course
Polish people didn't speak English, but they definitely didn't speak English
with a funny accent. It flawed a great film like 'The Grey Zone' and it
flaws 'Uprising'. Hank Azaria and especially David Schwimmer have accents so stupid I almost laughed during the cruelties. Both performances
are not bad, but Schwimmer even talks slower because with that accent you
can't talk at normal speed.
The performances are all good enough. The best performance comes from Cary
Elwes as Fritz Hippler. He directed 'Der Ewige Jude' ('The Eternal
Jew') and Elwes does something nice with the character although his part is
not very big. Sometimes I thought this film was implying that Hippler was
not a real Nazi with his sarcastic remarks. If that was true I am wondering
how he could make a film like 'Der Ewige Jude'.
In the end I watched an interesting and well made film about the uprising
in the Warsaw-ghetto. A good film, kep together tightly by
Avnet, that
probably can give you some new insights in this part of the World War II
history.