Vilniaus getas (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.

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Genres:

History | War

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Details

Country:

Germany Lithuania

Language:

English German

Release Date:

8 June 2006 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Ghetto

Filming Locations:

Vilnius, Vilnius County, Lithuania

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dragon Cine Venture Image Entertainment, Lietuvos Kinostudija, Lithuanian Film Studio

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

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.

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Goofs

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

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Soundtracks

Shtiler, Shtiler
Lyrics by Shmerke Kaczerginski
Music by Alexander Volkoviski Tamir (as Alex Wolkowisky)
Performed by Vilnius M.K. Ciurlionis Music School Children Choir and Choir Aidija
Soloist Vytautas Juozenas
Conductor Romas Grazinis

User Reviews

Good, but could have been better

This movie is different than most of WWII related movies. It is not as serious as other movies which makes it unique and perhaps worth watching. Although it has fairly good storyline, it is definitely not as strong as movies such as the Pianist. There is no strong character growth and it is hard to tell who is really the main character. However, it is interesting to watch how the story incorporates drama, musical, and some light humour all into a war-themed movie. I was bit disappointed in the acting, especially the voice acting. The audio almost sounds like as if it was dubbed because the voice you hear does not really go with the character. I would have rather liked if they just spoke in German, not in English. One of the main reason I watched it was because of Heino Ferch. Unfortunately, his acting seems bit artificial when compared to his acting in der Untergang and der Tunnel.

Overall, it is a good film that could have been better.