Uprising (TV 2001)

Jews rise up in the Warsaw Ghetto against the Nazis in 1943.

Director:

Jon Avnet

Writers:

Paul Brickman, Jon Avnet

Stars:

Leelee Sobieski, Hank Azaria, David Schwimmer

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Leelee Sobieski	...	Tosia Altman
Hank Azaria	...	Mordechai Anielewicz
David Schwimmer	...	Yitzhak Zuckerman
Jon Voight	...	Major-General Jurgen Stroop
Donald Sutherland	...	Adam Czerniakow
Stephen Moyer	...	Kazik Rotem
Sadie Frost	...	Zivia Lubetkin
Radha Mitchell	...	Mira Fruchner
Mili Avital	...	Deworah Baron
Eric Lively	...	Arie Wilner
Alexandra Holden	...	Frania Beatus
John Ales	...	Marek Edelman
Andy Nyman	...	Calel Wasser
Nora Brickman	...	Clara Linder
Jesper Christensen	...	General Kruger

Storyline

Using radically refashioned archival footage of the Warsaw ghetto, this interview with Jon Avnet the director of Uprising talks about Marek Edelman who is an evocative memoir of his role in the rebellion that held back the Nazis for almost a month in 1943. The film begins with the growing list of prohibitions and regulations leading to the virtual imprisonment of about half-a-million Polish Jews in an old slum district of Warsaw with inadequate space and plumbing. An overhead tracking shot shows the number of people assembled in the first months of the relocation. The daily struggle against hunger and disease, especially among the dispossessed arrivals seen in their pitful rags, is aggravated by the German demands for "deportations to the east" that many begin to suspect are camouflaged mass murders. By the close of 1942, people living in the ghetto realize they are doomed, and the rudiments of resistance are planned by a handful of the young, including Edelman. Following some ...

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Plot Keywords:

ghetto | warsaw ghetto | uprising | rebellion | tunnel | 

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Taglines:

They did the one thing the Nazis never expected. They fought back.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 November 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

1943 l'ultime révolte

Filming Locations:

Bratislava, Slovakia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avnet/Kerner Productions, Brooklyn Films, Raffaella Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

177 min 153 min (DVD) 152 min (DVD edition)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Adam Czerniaków went to the gangster to get final money to pay the ransom. The gangster "house of ill repute" was at address Mila 18 - this was a reference to the Leon Uris story also of the Ghetto uprising.

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Goofs

The "Polish army uniforms" in the opening of the movie are actually Soviet Rifle Division uniforms from the 1944-46 period.

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Quotes

Mordechai Anielewicz: Can a moral man, that's me, maintain his moral code in an immoral world?

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Connections

References The Eternal Jew (1940)

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Soundtracks

"Scottish Symphony"
(uncredited)
Composed by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

User Reviews

Competently made miniseries, good cast - but the accents?

Jon Avnet's "Uprising" is a competently made historical drama about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The attention to historical detail is bang-on, and the film is relentless in its pacing and moments of true horror and desperation. Nevertheless - and for this I might be nitpicking - I was once again left scratching my head as to the filmmakers' decision to encourage the actors to put on vaguely Eastern European and German accents. Technically, if you're going to alter the Geo-linguistic realism but making an English-language film, wouldn't it be best if the actors spoke naturally? This is unfortunate, as it distracts from the compelling plot at various points in the film. At times, we don't see the characters, but rather Hank "Apu" Azaria and David "Ross" Schwimmer hamming it up with their accents.