Out of the Ashes (2003)

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

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The true story of the Late Doctor Gisella Perl is unforgettable and the stuff of which legends and heroines are made. She was truly a most remarkable human being. However, in my opinion this made-for-television movie did not do justice to Dr. Perl's true life story. The scenes and sets were cheap and recognizable from other contemporary movies made by the same production company. The script (by Anne Meredith) was over-dramatized, stilted and incomplete, e.g. the horror of Dr Perl having to smother to death many live birth children in order to save the lives of their mothers is not mentioned and was one horror, along with the hundreds of abortions she performed to save lives, that haunted Dr. Perl until her death. The acting and script were so stilted and so melodramatic that it deterred from the true story and made me question if the story could be true or should be taken seriously. Only because I read Dr. Perl's book and many articles about her life that I knew the story to be true. Some of the actors are guilty of terrible overacting, especially in many scenes revealing details of Dr. Perls's life that really call for, nay demand, understatement that would have been far more effective for the realization of the real Dr. Perl and her family. Beau Bridges was good as the lead immigration officer (his part scripted to make him appear as an interrogator for the Inquisition) and Christine Lahti gave a fair, albeit an over the top, melodramatic performance and was often guilty of just plain overacting. Richard Crenna and Bruce Davison are as wooden as manikins in a window display and their roles in this movie still escape me. All in all the script, sets and acting were inferior and deficient. This story deserves a better treatment than it received in this television movie because Dr. Gisella Perl was a real heroine, not just a death camp survivor. I give this movie 3/5 stars, mainly for Dr. Perl's true story, not the acting, script or cinematography.

when i saw some loser idea from a previous commentator about this film being a melodramatic waste of time i was baffled. this film is the most emotional film i have ever seen. the idea that those Nazis who could do such things were themselves immune to it all but afraid of pain. its rare that you get a look at so many things of the camps, and this film shows you nearly anything you would imagine happening in a place such as Auschwitz. forget that comment that guy made about this film being so under par and just one of another. watch this for yourself and i guarantee if you have any sense of a good movie or good acting you'll know this movie is complete with both. no complaints on my part of this film other than the fact that since it was made on facts that in the end Doctor Joseph Mengele was not given a piece of his own medicine. any other way this was a great film.

The first 20 minutes was slow and I thought this was going no where. But, then when we start to see flashbacks of the concentration camps and what Perl saw and endured there; it gets really good. Christine Lahti is really good and will surely be nominated for an Emmy. I mean, it was awful how the interview panel tries to make Dr. Perl look bad because of the things she had to do in order to survive her imprisonment. And the film does have those shocking Nazi moments, like shootings in the head, killing pregnant women, and experiments on babies.FINAL VERDICT: This was a good movie about a Jewish Dr. who struggles with the moral choices she must make to survive Nazi imprisonment. Definitely catch this if you have Showtime.

Joe Sargent was ruthless with the editing,the fast cuts pulled you right into the story, he made it move at a great pace.Don Morgan did a brilliant job on lighting - I love it when a DOP is not afraid to have faces drop into shadows. Beautiful texure throughout.Jeff Ginn did an absolute stellar job on production Design.The show felt like a feature film.Christine Lahti should be nominated for her role in this film