Pizza in Auschwitz (2008) User Reviews

Well structured, good characterizations

[Nozz · 8/10 · 9 May 2014]

If the movie were fiction, better central characters couldn't have been imagined. Danny, the Auschwitz survivor, has wrestled down his traumas by taking ownership of the experience. He takes pleasure in demonstrating his toughness by overlaying his recollections with humor. His daughter, on the other hand-- for whom the experience is only second-hand-- gives more evidence of suffering than he does and would rather leave the subject alone. The third side of the triangle is Danny's son, who has embraced Orthodox Judaism and acts as a quiet stabilizing force. In the course of a trip to Auschwitz, where Danny wants to assert ownership by spending a night in the barracks, Danny meets people who aren't won over by his humor or awed by his survival, and his resentment comes to the fore. His son and daughter do their best to manage the situation.

Worth seeing in the context of other videos

[hgreensp · 8/10 · 5 March 2014]

If anyone doubts that there is no "model" Holocaust survivor, they need to see this video. At times, the film itself overgeneralizes, as in the wondering at the end if anyone survived. (They did.) But the main thing is that this is a film about a real family, real people, warts and all, history and all. Some will say it's about a particular person or family's mishegoss. Some will say it's about outrage, pure and simple. Some will say it's about the Holocaust. Some will go further and find a way in which it is about all of this and more. (It is.)

I will be showing it in my class during the same evening as The Lady in Number 6. The deliberately provocative contrast will be useful, not to "choose sides," but to realize there aren't any.

Up close. More than you've ever been before. And salute those who didn't make it but never will be forgotten.

[ambadres · 10/10 · 11 March 2024]

This is the most touching, breath taking, truthful, healing and jet horrific film/documentary on this topic I have ever seen. There's absolutely no doubt that Danny Chanoch lived and survived the death camp Auschwitz. On its own something you can hardly imagine because it was designed to have any survivors what so ever. Danny has set his mind to fulfill a long lasting dream of having a wonderful meal once he returns to the barracks of Auschwitz. Hence the title. Of course there's nothing to make his life worse than it already became when he was a young man that nothing can keep him from having this meal. Not only does Mister Chanoch let us come so close to him that you can almost feel what he did and does we can also experience how his trauma works through his children, grandchildren and affects everyones life around him.

I really don't want to give to much away about this documentary. Go and watch it please. Bare in mind that it will stick with you for a long time and that you will recommend it to others. And please salute all the people that weren't able to have another hot meal, celebrate Shabbat and never saw there loved ones again. May they forever rest in peace.