The Devil's Arithmetic (1999) (TV)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Donna Deitch

Writers (WGA):

Jane Yolen (novel)
Robert J. Avrech (teleplay)

Release Date:

28 March 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Live to tell

Plot:

This is another telling of the holocaust, but this time from the perspective of a modern teenage girl...

Plot Keywords:

Holocaust | Concentration Camp | WWII | Lifting Person In Air | Based On Novel

Awards:

3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Kirsten Dunst	...	Hannah Stern
Brittany Murphy	...	Rivkah
Paul Freeman	...	Rabbi
Mimi Rogers	...	Leonore Stern
Louise Fletcher	...	Aunt Eva
Lilo Baur	...	Mina
Nitzan Sharron	...	Ariel
Shelly Skandrani	...	Leah
Daniel Brocklebank	...	Shmuel
Kirsty McFarland	...	Yetta
Rachel Roddy	...	Esther
Ieva Jackeviciute	...	Miriam
Philip Rham	...	Commandant Krieger
Daniel Rausch	...	Officer Steinbach
Paulina Soloveicik	...	Sarah

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:12 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-11 | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Lithuania

Company:

Lietuvos Kinostudija

Trivia:

By far the most famous and successful movie in which actor Paul Freeman has appeared in his career is Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), in which he plays a French archaeologist who collaborates with the Nazis. In this film, he plays an Orthodox rabbi who is imprisoned in a concentration camp by the Nazis.

Movie Connections:

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

I'm quite amazed at the negative comments I see here

The point of this film was not as much to be "great art" as it was to educate people about the Holocaust. In that sense, I think that many posters here are unfairly blasting it, holding it up to some high artistic standard. Believe it or not, there are many in this world, especially younger people, who have not clue one about the atrocities committed against the Jewish people. This film would be an excellent introduction (along with other films such as Diary of Anne Frank) for young people into this very real and recent historical nightmare. To read comments here about how bad the German accents were and how the Germans deserve better than this, lead me to suspect the sincerity of those posting them.