The Grey Zone (2001)

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

OK I am 40minutes through this movie, then suddenly I switched off.The story telling has badly executed very poorly, you don't get what's up. Out of context dialogues of random people. Maybe it will make sense later in the film, but how should I care if I already rage within the first 40% of the movie.The visuals are very bad, too dark, shadows all over the place. Of course this has been done on purpose, but it totally fails. I constantly blinked because of the eye strain due to my efforts of recognizing something. Also, why does the camera shake, is this blair witch?Not worth watching except you are one of those people which already admire a movie just because it picks up cruel facts of history.

A staggeringly provocative story based on true events. During World War II, Hitler placed hundreds of thousands of Jewish prisoners in concentration camps to be gassed, excinerated and buried; all kept secret from the German citizens and the world. The Nazis chose Special Squads from these prisoners to be Sonderkommandos; given a few more months of life in exchange for their help in exterminating fellow Jews. Personal and moral dilemma aside cause soft hearts to become dark and hard. One such group of Sonderkommandos painstakingly hoard enough weaponry for an organized revolt. As this uprising looms closer a young girl is found alive...surviving a gas chamber. Now can personal redemption be attained by helping this girl live a little longer and a chance to escape? Needless to say many endured torture just to allow other prisoners a few more hours of life. A top-notch ensemble features: Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, Allan Corduner, David Arquette, Henry Stram, David Chandler, Velizar Biney and Kamelia Grigorova.

If his is indeed an accurate portrayal of a group of Jews who survived a few extra weeks by doing the bidding of the Nazi pigs who run the extermination camps, God help us! This is one of the bleakest things I have ever seen. We, of course, have to ask the simple question, "What is life worth?" If the answer is everything, then we can understand why these poor souls did what they did. In every portrayal of these camps, we see how powerless the inmates are. They are face daily with pistols and machine guns. They are arbitrarily shot in the head for crying, or just standing in the wrong place. They are the victims. What about the Germans? How can a human being do this to another and take pleasure in it? I know how naive that question is, but it is certainly at the central core of everything. The closing scene is so hopeless and so gripping. There are almost surrealistic moments, almost like those in silent films where a face is made to stand for a thousand words. I doubt I could watch this again. I also don't know that there is another holocaust film that can affect one any more than this.

BEGIN SPOILER: The Grey Zone is based on the actual events in Auschwitz during WW2. Teams of Hungarian Jewish prisoners were forced to work in the crematoriums to dispose of the bodies of the Jewish victims of the Nazi regime during WW2.END SPOILER This film in its own way is as harrowing as Spielberg's Schindler's List, but concentrates on one group of prisoners and their captors.This film is just one more in an extremely long list of films which deals with the horrific events in German concentration camps during WW2.Although the film cannot be construed as the best film depicting the horrors of WW2 ever made, it is nevertheless a reminder of what went on in German occupied countries during those dark days from 1939 to 1945.It was well made and well acted and I for one was reminded of what the human race is actually capable of. I was particularly impressed with the performances of Steve Buscemi and Harvey Keitel. Although Keitel is not one of my favourite actors, he made the part his own and I could easily equate him with the man he was portraying, Eric Muhsfeldt.There may be some who feel that this type of film has outlived its usefulness and there is no need to continue to remind us of these black historical events.To anyone who does feel this way I would say that these reminders must never stop until there is peace throughout the world, Firstly because there are still many, many atrocities still occurring in this world which must be addressed, and those responsible must be brought to book and the free world must jointly do everything in their power to put an end to these regimes.Secondly, Although it is over 60 years since the horrors were first brought to the attention of the world, there are millions who were not born or know nothing or very little about how the human race can be, and still are, so cruel and evil against its fellow man.Anyone who watches The Grey Zone I feel will be moved at the plight of these Hungarians who were forced into doing what they had to do.Plutus1947