God on Trial (2008) (TV)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Andy DeEmmony

Writer:

Frank Cottrell Boyce (written by)

Release Date:

3 September 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In the Jewish tradition of arguing with God, Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz decide to put God on Trial. |

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Josef Altin	...	Isaac
Ashley Artus	...	Ricard
Dominic Cooper	...	Moche
Lorcan Cranitch	...	Blockaltester
David de Keyser	...	Hugo
Stephen Dillane	...	Schmidt
Rupert Graves	...	Mordechai
François Guétary	...	Jacques
Agnieszka Liggett	...	Tour Guide
Louise Mardenborough	...	Emily
Eddie Marsan	...	Lieble
Iain McGregor	...	German Guard
André Oumansky	...	Jacob
Blake Ritson	...	Idek
Jack Shepherd	...	Kuhn
Antony Sher	...	Akiba
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Baumgarten
René Zagger	...	Ezra

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK

Company:

BBC Scotland

Trivia:

Hat Trick has employed a rabbi to consult on the script.

Quotes:

Mordechai: Don't let them take your God away from you too. Whether he exists or not, don't let them take that away too.

A masterpiece of TV drama

In a freezing, filthy, overcrowded hut in Auschwitz a group of emaciated Jewish prisoners await their fate. Around half of them will be selected for the gas chamber within a couple of hours and most seem paralysed by fear, hunger and despair - but one angry inmate rails against God. His anger provokes reactions and soon the men - they are all men - agree to put God on trial, quickly organising a kind of tribunal in the traditions of their religion.

This drama confronts one of the central issues of human existence - the basis of faith - and sets it in a time and place that has become a by-word for inhumanity. With writing that is emotive, intelligent and unflinching throughout complimented by a series of utterly convincing and moving performances from all the principals, this was one of the most absorbing and challenging pieces of TV drama I have witnessed in years. In fact I would go further: This ranks as one of the finest TV productions I have ever seen.

For me the almost real time context lifted this play beyond another testimony to the Holocaust. The characters all know the past - indeed, they acknowledge several hideous near genocidal atrocities by their Jewish ancestors - but they don't know the future.

I won't spoil the outcome but, please, seek this out. If it doesn't make you think and doesn't touch your heart, you may not be alive.