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IMDbPro

Out of the Ashes

  • TV Movie
  • 20032003
  • RR
  • 1h 53m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
13,124
1,534
Out of the Ashes (2003)
Home Video Trailer from Showtime
Play trailer0:56
1 Video
2 Photos
Drama
Based on a true story, this heart-wrenching film follows the journey of Gisella Perl (Christine Lahti), a Jewish-Hungarian doctor who manages to survive Auschwitz. Decades later, she's apply... Read allBased on a true story, this heart-wrenching film follows the journey of Gisella Perl (Christine Lahti), a Jewish-Hungarian doctor who manages to survive Auschwitz. Decades later, she's applying for U.S. citizenship when she becomes accused of colluding with the Nazis. Her judge a... Read allBased on a true story, this heart-wrenching film follows the journey of Gisella Perl (Christine Lahti), a Jewish-Hungarian doctor who manages to survive Auschwitz. Decades later, she's applying for U.S. citizenship when she becomes accused of colluding with the Nazis. Her judge and jury are three INS investigators (played by Bruce Davison, Richard Crenna and Beau Brid... Read all
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
13,124
1,534
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Joseph Sargent
    • Writers
      • Gisella Perl(book "I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz")
      • Anne Meredith(teleplay)
    • Stars
      • Christine Lahti
      • Bruce Davison
      • Jonathan Cake
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Joseph Sargent
    • Writers
      • Gisella Perl(book "I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz")
      • Anne Meredith(teleplay)
    • Stars
      • Christine Lahti
      • Bruce Davison
      • Jonathan Cake
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 17User reviews
    • 3Critic reviews
    • Won 1 Primetime Emmy
      • 3 wins & 1 nomination total

    Videos1

    Out of the Ashes
    Trailer 0:56
    Out of the Ashes

    Photos

    Out of the Ashes (2003)
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Christine Lahti
    Christine Lahti
    • Gisella Perl
    Bruce Davison
    Bruce Davison
    • Peter Schuman
    Jonathan Cake
    Jonathan Cake
    • Dr. Mengele
    Jolyon Baker
    • Frederick Krauss
    Jessica Beitchman
    Jessica Beitchman
    • Marta Weiss
    Oliver Cotton
    Oliver Cotton
    • Moshe Perl
    Michelle Fine
    • Fanny Perl
    Zoie Palmer
    Zoie Palmer
    • Didi Goldstein
    Maria Ricossa
    Maria Ricossa
    • Esther Jacob
    Ingrid Veninger
    • Zozia
    Emma Wellbelove
    • Young Gisella
    Nina Young
    Nina Young
    • Irma Griese
    Richard Crenna
    Richard Crenna
    • Jake Smith
    Beau Bridges
    Beau Bridges
    • Herman Prentiss
    Vytautas Rumsas
    • David Perl
    Inga Tuminiene
    • Cilla Perl
    Adrija Cepaite-Palsauskiene
    • Rose Perl
    Inga Maskarina
    • Helen Perl
    • Director
      • Joseph Sargent
    • Writers
      • Gisella Perl(book "I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz")
      • Anne Meredith(teleplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Richard Crenna's final acting project.
    • Goofs
      Neither Cluj nor Sighet belonged to Hungary in the period the movie refers to - except for the military occupation of Horthy's Hungary (1940-1944). Even during that brief occupation, most inhabitants of other than Hungarian ethnicity would not have identified themselves as "Hungarian". This is probably not such an innocent mistake, since that is still a sensitive issue, Hungarians still claiming that part of Romania for themselves...
    • Quotes

      Gisella Perl: I can recall wanting to be a doctor when I was a little girl. And I became a doctor... a very good doctor, if I can say that. I knew each child I helped bring into the world was a gift, not from me, but from God. But everything changed when I was deported to Auschwitz and began working there as a doctor. You know about some of the things I did there, for the pregnant women. But yes, I did sent unknowingly many women to their deaths within the day of my arrival. And yes, some of the things I did there, some of the procedures I was forced to do there... they were not honorable. So you are right, I have blood on my hands and believe me I can see it as clearly as you can see this tattoo here on my arm. Both of them will forever identify me as having to be a doctor in Auschwitz, not only to the world, but to myself. And I know this is very difficult for you to understand gentlemen not having been there, but it is the truth. I only did what I had to do to survive. Those of us! who did not survive somedays they are for the best of us. My family, Fredrick my husband, my mother and my father, David, all of my brothers, Emir my... my son. They will not be joining me here; there is no coming home for them. Why did God allow me to survive? Who knows? Well I must believe it was so I can help bring more children into the world. Free children, children with a chance to live. Do you see if I can help deliver on Jewish child, and she grows up to have children and they have children and the nazi's will have not succeeded, do you see this? Yea, one million innocent children were destroyed by them; well I want to help bring one million children into the world. Until the day I die, I must help rebuild what the Nazis worked so hard to do, please gentlemen allow me to do this here in America because if I cannot, then believe me God should have not allow me to live.

    User reviews17

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    True Story Deserved Better Treatment
    The true story of the Late Doctor Gisella Perl is unforgettable and the stuff of which legends and heroines are made. She was truly a most remarkable human being.

    However, in my opinion this made-for-television movie did not do justice to Dr. Perl's true life story. The scenes and sets were cheap and recognizable from other contemporary movies made by the same production company. The script (by Anne Meredith) was over-dramatized, stilted and incomplete, e.g. the horror of Dr Perl having to smother to death many live birth children in order to save the lives of their mothers is not mentioned and was one horror, along with the hundreds of abortions she performed to save lives, that haunted Dr. Perl until her death.

    The acting and script were so stilted and so melodramatic that it deterred from the true story and made me question if the story could be true or should be taken seriously. Only because I read Dr. Perl's book and many articles about her life that I knew the story to be true. Some of the actors are guilty of terrible overacting, especially in many scenes revealing details of Dr. Perls's life that really call for, nay demand, understatement that would have been far more effective for the realization of the real Dr. Perl and her family. Beau Bridges was good as the lead immigration officer (his part scripted to make him appear as an interrogator for the Inquisition) and Christine Lahti gave a fair, albeit an over the top, melodramatic performance and was often guilty of just plain overacting. Richard Crenna and Bruce Davison are as wooden as manikins in a window display and their roles in this movie still escape me. All in all the script, sets and acting were inferior and deficient.

    This story deserves a better treatment than it received in this television movie because Dr. Gisella Perl was a real heroine, not just a death camp survivor.

    I give this movie 3/5 stars, mainly for Dr. Perl's true story, not the acting, script or cinematography.
    helpful•7
    5
    • SpitfireIXB
    • May 6, 2010

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 13, 2003 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Gisella Perl
    • Production companies
      • Ardent Productions
      • Contenders Only
      • Cypress Point Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 53 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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