Uprising (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 5 wins & 16 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	...	Devorah 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:

warsaw ghetto | anti semitism | jewish resistance | year 1943 | nazi occupied poland | 

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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:

Slovakia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avnet/Kerner Productions, Brooklyn Films, Raffaella Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

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

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Final credited project of composer Maurice Jarre.

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Goofs

Historically, the "tanks" used by the Germans during the suppression of the uprising were actually French light assault guns Lorraine 37L - which means there was not a single Tiger tank (not to mention two). Also, the SS troops were "police" and training/reserve units (rear formations), not the front-line troops.

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Quotes

Simha 'Kazik' Rotem: You are all under arrest, put down your weapons and return immediately to the Umschlagplatz!

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Alternate Versions

R1 DVD runs 177'15" (NTSC), but European releases only 152'28" (PAL) (a difference of almost 18'26" allowing for the different frame rates).

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Connections

Featured in Breaking Down the Walls: The Road to Recreating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (2002)

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Soundtracks

An der schönen blauen Donau
, Op. 314 , aka "The Blue Danube"
Composed by Johann Strauss II
Performed by Sympho Inc. Studio Orchestra (Bratislava, Slovenia)

User Reviews

Overwhelming as well as devastating portrayal of survival against Nazi atrocities and all irrational obstacles

In 1939, after the invasion of Poland, Reinhard Heydrich chief of Gestapo began to place all Polish Jews in ghettos, where they could slowly die of hunger and disease. The campaign was to be administered by the Waffen-SS the party's military formations that fought as integral units in the armed forces. The Warsaw ghetto was the largest of these segregated areas established by the Nazis in Poland. In 1940 Heydrich, using the excuse that the spread of typhus had to be contained, set up a special section 11 miles in circumference enclosed by a brick wall 10 feet high . The cost was paid by the Judenrat (whose leader named Adam Czerniakow is perfectly played by Donald Sutherland) , the Jewish Council of twenty-four-members, which was in charge of Jewish affairs inside the ghetto . The daily struggle against hunger and disease is aggravated by the German demands for "deportations to the east" that many begin to suspect are camouflaged mass murders . Later on , there takes place the upheaval by a handful of fighters .

This is an emotionally tale and very decent drama about a group of Jews from uprising until terrible ending in the Warsaw ghetto . Jon Avnet correctly directs a spellbinding portrait about the holocaust with intense drama , action and spectacular as well as sad scenes . A splendid all-star-cast gives magnificent acting in real-life characters such as Leelee Sobieski as Tosia Altman , David Schwimmer as Yitzhak Zuckerman , Stephen Moyer as Kazik Rotem, Sadie Frost as Zivia Lubetkin , Radha Mitchell as Mira Fruchner , Mili Avital as Deworah Baron and special mention to Hanz Azaria who is excellent in a complicate and suffering role . An of course , we can not forget the great John Voight as Major-General Jurgen Stroop who carried out the brutal repression . Emotive as well as sensitive musical score by the classical Maurice Jarre . Impressive and adequate production by the Spanish Benjamin Fernandez who previously had designed ¨The others¨ and ¨Daylight¨ . Evocative and atmospheric cinematography by cameraman Denis Lenoir .

Adding more details over largely described on the movie regarding 'the Warsaw ghetto uprising', the events happened on the following manner : From 300 to 400 died daily in the Warsaw trap. More than 43.000 starved to death during the first year. Children crazed by hunger crawled through the sewers to the non-Jewish sectors of the city to smuggle in a bit of food. People were no longer moved by the sight of men and women falling dead on the streets. The Nazi authorities began intensified measure on July 22, 1942. As a memorial to Heydrich, Heirich Himmler ordered all Jews except those already in concentration camps to be deported .The ghetto and all labor camps would then be destroyed. Mass deportations to the gas chambers of Treblinka began. In two months 300.000 Jews were eliminated. The Judenrat was ordered to deliver 6.000 Jews daily for deportation. Each day thousands were driven by guards through the gates.Young Zionists, pioneers training to go to Palestine, mobilized first to be followed by members of the Polish workers party . On July 28, 1942, the Jewish Combat organization consisting about 1.000 men and boys was formed. All resolved to kill as many of their tormentors as they could before they died.The Jews fighting from rooftops, cellars, and attics,Poles outside the ghetto now began to send in more revolvers, grenades, and dynamite. In 1943 the guerrillas divided into twenty-two groups built an intricate network underground cellars and tunnels ,linked with command posts . In April 19,1943 German troops moved in on the ghetto to send all who were left to Treblinka in a final action. First came the armed trucks, tanks, and armored cars. The ghetto fighters poured a hail of bullets, grenades and bombs, the fighting went on for twenty-eight days. The guerrillas fought to the last . Many committed suicide at the moment before capture. The Germans dragged survivors from the cellars and rubble. Fewer than 100 escaped, the last 60000 Jews had been exterminated or killed in the explosions and fires.Polish sources reported that the fighters had killed 300 Germans and wounded 1000. From Warsaw Jewish resistance moved to swamps and forests .