The Devil's Arithmetic (1999)

A 16-year-old American girl with an apathetic view towards her Jewish family history finds herself pulled through time into 1941 to a small Polish village where the Nazis have just begun their genocidal propaganda.

Director:

Donna Deitch

Writers:

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

Stars:

Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy, Paul Freeman

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 Rasch	...	Officer Steinbach (as Daniel Rausch)
Polina Soloveicik	...	Sarah (as Paulina Soloveicik)

Storyline

Another telling of the Holocaust, this time from the perspective of a modern teenage girl who only grudgingly accepts the Jewish traditions, but when she is asked to "open the front door" as part of the Seder feast discovers that she has been whirled into the 1940s and stepped into the life of a prisoner in one of the German death camps, where she experiences its horrors firsthand.

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Plot Keywords:

jewish | nazi | 1940s | teenage girl | wizard of oz | 

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Taglines:

Live to tell

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

A scene from this movie appears in Wag the Dog (1997) as the faked footage of an orphan in Albania.

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Goofs

The rabbi says it's October 26 5703 and then Rivka says the Christian year is 1941, but the Hebrew year 5703 began in September 1942. Fall 1941 should be 5702. The rabbi also says October. He should've said Cheshvan. The date should've been either 5 Cheshvan 5702 or 15 Cheshvan 5703.

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Quotes

Hannah Stern: Do you know what a stupid girl I used to be? I almost got one of these put on!
[shows the number tattooed on her arm]
Hannah Stern: Can you believe that? I wanted to get tattooed!
Rivkah: Don't talk foolishness!
Hannah Stern: It is foolishness, isn't it? My whole life has been foolishness. I'm being punished, that's it, God is punishing me.
Rivkah: I forbid you to say that. Is God punishing me? Is He punishing the children? I won't believe that.
Hannah Stern: Then why? Why?
Rivkah: Ask them why. Ask the Nazis, not me, don't ask me.

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Connections

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

User Reviews

Pretty good for a low-budgeted, made-for-tv-movie

Taking place in modern-day times and in 1941, THe Devil's Aritmetic is well-presented and clever. However, it does not give you the realistic, heartbreaking effect that Schindler's List did. They should have given the audience a better effect by maybe spending a little more money. Kirsten Dinst "travels" back in time to a concentration camp and sees what the Jews went through. There she learns the story of some ancestors of her Jewish family. With a satisfying cast of Mimi Rogers, Kirsten Dunst, and many others, The Devil's Arithmetic is all in all not that bad.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 March 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Devil's Arithmetic

Filming Locations:

Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lietuvos Kinostudija, Lithuanian Film Studio, Millbrook Farm Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1