Ghetto (2005)

In 1942, in Vilnius, the Nazi annihilate 55,000 Jews and squeeze the 15,000 survivors in a seven blocks ghetto. The twenty-two year old sadistic commander Kittel is assigned to administrate... See full summary »

Director:

Audrius Juzenas

Writers:

Joshua Sobol (play), Joshua Sobol (screenplay)

Stars:

Heino Ferch, Sebastian Hülk, Erika Marozsán

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Heino Ferch	...	Gens
Sebastian Hülk	...	Kittel
Erika Marozsán	...	Haya
Andrius Zebrauskas	...	Srulik
Vytautas Sapranauskas	...	Weiskopf
Margarita Ziemelyte	...	Lina
Alvydas Slepikas	...	Kruk
Jörg Lamprecht	...	Dessler (as Jörk Lamprecht)
Adrija Cepaite-Palsauskiene	...	Uma (as Adrija Cepaite)
Darius Meskauskas	...	Arntgen
Jurgis Domasevicius	...	Timan (as Jurgis Damasevicius)
Eimutis Kvosciauskas	...	Tana
Kristina Mauruseviciute	...	Judith
Sigitas Rackys	...	Kalman
Vilma Raubaite	...	Liuba (as Vilma Raubaité)

Storyline

In 1942, in Vilnius, the Nazi annihilate 55,000 Jews and squeeze the 15,000 survivors in a seven blocks ghetto. The twenty-two year old sadistic commander Kittel is assigned to administrate the ghetto in the capital of Lithuania, becoming the master of life or death. When he finds the gorgeous Hayyah sneaking with one kilo of beans stolen from the German army, he sentences her to death; but when he is informed that she was a former successful singer, he decides to activate the old theater and promote shows in the ghetto. The Jewish Chief of Police, Gens, uses the theater and a sewing factory to save as much lives as he can; in his ambiguous position, he kills Jews to save lives of others.

---

Genres:

History | War

---

Did You Know?

Trivia

The New York production of "Ghetto" by Joshua Sobol opened at the Circle in the Square Theater in New York on April 30, 1989 and ran for 33 performances.

---

Goofs

Bruno Kittel is wearing a Wehrmacht (army) uniform, while in fact he worked for the Gestapo.

---

Soundtracks

Zog Nit Keinmol
Lyrics by H. Glik
Music by Dmitri Pokras
Performed by Judita Leitaite

User Reviews

Good, but...

I saw this film when I spent some time in Vilnius. Not long before I head spent some time in the genocide museum in the Lithuanian capital and I was fascinated by there history, especially during WWII. Since this movie was spoken in English, and everyone was talking about it I went to see it in one of the big theaters.

It added to the experience to be in the city where the story took place, but regardless, it was very well done, it just seemed to be unsure whether it was a musical, play or war movie. That made it very original but also confusing at times. I see it as a lighthearted approach of something good during very bad times. Meaning that the tone of the movie switched often and took the audience of guard, which is a great thing, but it should have been done more subtle.

I must add that the acting was superb, and my hat's off to Hülk, great performance!

Details

Country:

Germany Lithuania

Language:

English German

Release Date:

8 June 2006 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Ghetto

Filming Locations:

Vilnius, Vilnius County, Lithuania

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$159,751

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dragon Cine Venture Image Entertainment

Technical Specs

Color:

Color