For Those I Loved (1983)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Admirable film.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Overwhelming as well as devastating portrayal of survival against Nazi villains and all irrational obstacles . The true story of Martin Gray (Jacques Penot as young boy and Michael York as mature man) , a Polish survivor of the holocaust, from how he survived the German invasion , how got captured . He is sent to a concentration camp , there victims were brought to the camp in unventilated transports . Thus , when the incoming transports , mostly Jews , SS soldiers made instant decisions , those who were fit to labors were sent into the camp , others including the children , were dispatched immediately to the gas chambers where lots of Jews were executed . And all but a handful were gassed after arrival , the gas chambers could accommodate hundred prisoners at one time , most of their corpses were burned in open pits . He subsequently escaped and he fought back with the rebels, to his life in the Soviet army as a KGB agent, and the building of his new life in North America , there he marries a beautiful woman (Brigitte Fossey) but again takes place astonishing tragedies . This is an emotionally tale and very decent drama about a Jew and his family from uprising until terrible ending in the Warsaw ghetto . Roberto Enrico correctly directs a spellbinding portrait about the holocaust with intense drama , emotion and spectacular as well as sad scenes . A splendid French all-star-cast gives magnificent acting in real-life characters . The picture is based on real events , these are the followings : It deals with ¨Varsovia rebellion¨ and ¨Death Camps¨ such as Sobibór , Chelmno , Majanek , Belzec and Treblinka were four large death camps in the Lublin district of Poland transformed into extermination centers to implement the policy of genocide thought at the Wannsee Conference . In 1939, after the invasion of Poland, Reinhard Heydrich chief of Gestapo began to place all Polish Jews in ghettos, where they could slowly die of hunger and disease. The campaign was to be administered by the Waffen-SS the party's military formations that fought as integral units in the armed forces . The Warsaw ghetto was the largest of these segregated areas established by the Nazis in Poland. In 1940 Heydrich, using the excuse that the spread of typhus had to be contained, set up a special section 11 miles in circumference enclosed by a brick wall 10 feet high . The cost was paid by the Judenrat , the Jewish Council of twenty-four-members, which was in charge of Jewish affairs inside the ghetto . The daily struggle against hunger and disease is aggravated by the German demands for "deportations to the east" that many begin to suspect are camouflaged mass murders . Later on , there takes place the upheaval by a handful of fighters until the final destruction . The Nazi authorities began intensified measure on July 22, 1942. As a memorial to Heydrich, Heirich Himmler ordered all Jews except those already in concentration camps to be deported .The ghetto and all labor camps would then be destroyed. Mass deportations to the gas chambers of Treblinka began. In two months 300.000 Jews were eliminated. The Judenrat was ordered to deliver 6.000 Jews daily for deportation. Each day thousands were driven by guards through the gates.Young Zionists, pioneers training to go to Palestine, mobilized first to be followed by members of the Polish workers party . On July 28, 1942, the Jewish Combat organization consisting about 1.000 men and boys was formed. All resolved to kill as many of their tormentors as they could before they died. The Jews fighting from rooftops, cellars, and attics,Poles outside the ghetto now began to send in more revolvers, grenades, and dynamite. In 1943 the guerrillas divided into twenty-two groups built an intricate network underground cellars and tunnels ,linked with command posts .The motion picture was stunningly directed by Robert Enrico . He was a good professional who shot interesting films as ¨Jailsbird vacation¨ , ¨Rum Runners¨, ¨The wise guys¨ ¨The old fusil¨ and of course his masterpiece ¨The adventurers¨ . Rating : 7,5 , better than average. The film will appeal to French cinema lovers

The eighties brought in France another way of making movies:first a relatively short version which was shown in the theaters,then a miniseries which was broadcast on TV.Examples:"Lelouch's "les uns et les autres" Hossein's "les miserables" Bolognini's (co-production with Italy)"la dame aux camelias" "Comencini's "cuore" (idem) .... and Robert Enrico's "Au nom de tous les miens""Au nom de tous les miens exists in two versions.You have got to bear in mind that here it's a "reader's digest " form ( 2h25)!Think that the miniseries lasts 8 hours!With "Cuore" ,it's the best of the lot which includes plenty of other films in two versions.Robert Enrico ,whose best film remains his wonderful "les aventuriers" (1967) ,had already tackled WW2 with "le vieux fusil" which ,although praised to the skies at the time and a Cesar winner ,sufferred from a far-fetched screenplay full of tricks a la Feuillade,the old master of the French silent era.There's not such a problem with Martin Gray's story.His unbelievable true odyssey is one of the most harrowing and one of the most awesome of the whole twentieth century,and he will go down in history,as Anne Frank did.His life is so eventful through the sufferings ,the pain and the small joys -the scene when he gives cakes to a poor little girl-that it resembles a novel. My Jewish friends have always told me that they believe in survival ,not in a paradise after death,but through their children.That's what's Martin keeps on repeating ,that's why he gets over every time fate strikes ,that's why he wrote his book,that's why we almost never see him cry (except for the scene in his aunt's house in NYC)Of course ,the theatrically released version leaves something to be desired,so I urge everybody to see the long version before...if he can.

For those I loved (Au nom de tous les miens)is the remarkable life story of Martin Gray, a young Polish Jew, who has to skip the innocent days of his youth and has to grow up early to cope with the horrors of WWII. As a jew Martin and his family are forced to move to the ghetto. Although he is still very young, his youth helps him to adapt to the situation easier. He leads a group of smugglers that help him to get bread into the ghetto. The ghetto is finally emptied and he himself is transported to a concentration camp, from which he manages to escape by shear determination to survive. He joins the partisans and later the red army. After the war he settles in America and becomes a wealthy antique salesman. He meets a Dutch woman and moves to France, has two children and then fate strikes again. His wife and children die in a forest fire. This is the story he recorded after all that happened. He recorded it for those he loved. And lost.

Although I saw this film in 1980' s I was been moved by it so much I can still remember most of it today. The plot is brilliant as is the acting. I just wish I could get my hands on a copy of the video (VHS). I have been looking for over three years for the English version of the video with no success.