stargirlrk Review of Escape from Sobibor

Escape from Sobibor (1987 TV Movie)

A fantastic movie that tells a true story of bravery and determination during World War II

[10/10 · 10 May 2003]

This movie is fantastic, no doubt about it. It takes place in the Sobibor death camp in Poland during World War II, where Jews are sent to be killed but where also there are over 600 Jews and Russian POWs working. It shows many of the hardships that Jews faced during this time and the brutality of the German SS officers. Alan Arkin is a Jew in working in the camp who is somewhat of a leader among the prisoners there, and with trains of people coming into the camp every day, a train carrying several Russian POWs comes (all Jewish, that is why they were sent there instead of a regular POW camp) and Rutger Hauer is the leader among them. Arkin and Hauer soon work together among other prisoners to devise a way to escape, originally planning an escape that involved only a dozen men but they eventually decided it had to be the entire camp population of 600, or else the 600 people left there would most likely be slaughtered. The film is full of suspense and based on a true story that happened at Sobibor, which was the biggest camp escape during the war. This movie is in some parts shocking when, like Schindler's List and other Holocaust films, it shows naked women and children being led into the gas chambers and a woman being executed simply for bringing her baby into the camp. This movie is a great film and I am surprised that it was only a made-for-TV movie, for it has the true qualities of a theater movie and it also has a great musical soundtrack. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments.