Holocaust

One of the most outstanding television mini-series that was ever made. Obviously, this won the Emmy for best mini-series and was truly well deserved.

The story deals with the Weiss Family of Germany. They thought that they were true Germans never believing that they would be caught up in the madness of Hitler's Nazi Germany.

Despite the warnings of Dr. Weiss's patient,Dorf, who quickly rises in the Nazi hierarchy, the Weiss Family remains in Germany as Hitler seized power and the nightmare for the Jewish people begins.

This series made stars of Michael Moriarty.(Dorf) He plays the character drawn into the Nazi party with a chilling unfeeling for humanity rarely seen in movies. Dorf would be the typical character who would have said that he was forced into doing what he did since he was caught up in this period of frenzy. His ambitious, evil wife also helped push him into this way of life. Meryl Streep and James Woods also became well known as a result of this masterpiece production.

Nothing was hidden in making this grand production. You see the kosher butcher stores fall victim to Kristallnacht-the night of breaking glass. You see victims being marched off to the gas chambers.

This was certainly movie making at its best. Even the mini-series of todays are lacking in contact, interest and boldness of production.

Reinhart Heydrich is known by historians as having been a uniquely dangerous member of the Hitler's inner circle, as the man was not only far more intelligent than the usual Nazi thug, but completely amoral as well. Both sides are superbly bought out by David Warner as his Heydrich reveals his philosophy to Michael Moriarty's Captain Dorf - it was the high point of the miniseries. It marked Warner for me as a thinking man's villain.

NBC's Holocaust is perhaps the finest miniseries I've seen on television. I purchased the two VHS set several years ago and watch it at least once a year over several nights. Holocaust features a large, excellent cast, which make up for emotion which they lack in depth. Sadly, the stories are all too familiar and have presented in one form or another, but what makes this series stand out is the fact that it was able to compress time and feature some of the best known events of the holocaust, such as Babi Yar, Sobibor and Warsaw Ghetto, seamlessly. The dual story lines tracking the Jewish Weiss family and the German Dorff family intertwine believably, and the graphic violence is appropriate for this production. Michael Moriarty was excellent as the meek lawyer who became a cold calculator and Rosemary Harris was memorable as the proud but stubborn Berta Weiss. Meryl Streep and James Woods also are noteworthy, and it's a delight to see both actors in early roles. I recall when Holocaust debuted it became a media event and school project, with study guides for classroom discussion. I wonder if some of the material was appropriate for some young audiences.

Holocaust has to rank up there as one of the best mini-series' ever. It has to be up there with Roots and Band of Brothers as some of the best that t.v. has ever offered. Holocaust works because it puts the horror of Hitler's Third Reich in very personal terms in the way it was presented from two families' perspectives. The performances were done very well, the storyline was not only good but very entertaining. It kept me riveted to the t.v. when it was on. This didn't need to be graphic to get the story across on the horrors of naziism and what Jews went through. In fact being form one Jewish families perspective makes the holocaust itself that much more personal and up close. This was definitely must see t.v.

Hindsight's wonderful, and it easy now to criticise this series. I saw it first in Germany and the effect it had there was quite profound. It caused a national debate and, it could be argued, helped Germany face up to what occurred between 1933 and 1945, not so much from the extermination camps, but that they, a civilised people, could be led along that path.