In the Presence of Mine Enemies (1997) (TV)

Director:

Joan Micklin Silver

Writer:

Rod Serling (writer)

Release Date:

20 April 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

A Rabbi in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland in 1942 fights to maintain his stance of peace and acceptance...

Plot Keywords:

Rabbi | Ghetto | Nazi | Warsaw Poland | WWII

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Rabbi Adam Heller
Charles Dance	...	Captain Richter
Elina Löwensohn	...	Rachel Heller
Chad Lowe	...	Sergeant Lott
Don McKellar	...	Paul Heller
Peter Friedman	...	Kohn
Tony Nardi	...	Emmanuel
John Dunn-Hill	...	Josef Chinik
Diana Skaya	...	Child Singer
Ely Bonder	...	Singer's Father
Jason Shayne Schwartz	...	Israel
Alon Nashman	...	Baruch
Susan Almgren	...	Mrs. Carwine (as Susie Almgren)
Saba Cottle	...	Miriam
Howard Rosenstein	...	Bookseller

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and some scenes of violence.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Finland:K-13 | USA:PG-13 | Germany:12

Company:

Foxboro Company Productions

Trivia:

A remake of a play first seen on "Playhouse 90" in 1960, as the final installment of the 4-year anthology series.

Movie Connections:

Remake of "Playhouse 90: In the Presence of Mine Enemies (#4.17)" (1960)

Lacks a punch

In the weeks before the Warsaw uprising of Jews in 1942, a Rabbi struggles to keep true to his faith in the face of violence all around him. With his son becoming increasingly angry, his daughter a favourite of the local Captain and a guilt-ridden sergeant tensions increase in the Ghetto.

This is set around a terrible time in history, it should therefore have the horrific intensity of the period - you shouldn't be able to tear your eyes away from the screen. However it's not that captivating. The story is still terrible, but it's not totally mesmerising. The characters are generally quite well written - the Germans being the weakest link, although some of the Jews are too 'Jewish' if you know what I mean. Not that they're unbelievable - it's just that some of the actors are clearly forcing the actions and accent a bit.

Armin Mueller-Stahl is excellent as the Rabbi, as is Don McKellar as Paul. However McKellar is not allowed to do anything other than be angry whereas Mueller-Stahl is allowed a full range of emotions. Charles Dance gives a sub-Ralph Fiennes performance as the German Captain but doesn't have much to do. Chad Lowe (he of famous brother) as the guilt-ridden Sergeant Lott is OK but is too obvious for my liking - would a German sergeant really have shown his mercy so clearly all the time like that? I'd have preferred if he'd hidden his feelings in front of superiors and been even more angst ridden by his double life.

It's a fascinating story. But it's a little too simplistic here and some performances are not complicated enough to deal with such a situation (Mueller-Stahl excluded). Overall it's a good film but it just lacks something in it's performances, shallow scripting and TVM directing.