Escape from Sobibor

I first saw this in the early 2k on cable tv.

The gas chamber scene with the naked people in line n the dog attack scene stayed with me n haunted my sleep for months.

Revisited it recently on a dvd which I own.

The movie is very poignant n grim at times but the escape n the deaths of the Nazis will put smile.

Alan Arkin gave a memorable performance.

Simon Gregor, as Shlomo is noteworthy n Rutger Hauer is always a treat to watch.

It was interesting to read another viewer's comments about this film. I have seen Schindler's List and it didn't touch me anywhere near as deeply as Escape from Sobibor. I first watched it in my teens and it was this film, more than anything I'd seen previously about the Holocaust, which had the greatest impact. The story, of course, is based on truth and is full of painful, heart-wrenching scenes. Nothing has ever presented the Holocaust to me in a more vivid, more graphic, more powerful way.

It's amusing that some people can watch a film and it barely registers with them. Others can see the same film and have a completely different reaction to the experience. But that's people for you, the great variety that is the spice of life. For me, Escape from Sobibor was a very emotional experience and it had a major impact on me. But don't take anyone else's word for it. We all see things differently - go and see it yourself.

The uprising of the Jews in the death camp of Sobibor, with the escape of three hundred Jews, is brilliantly presented in this awesome movie. The excellent Alan Arkin performs Leon Feldhendler, a natural leader, organizing and motivating the prisoners. Rutger Hauer, in an excellent shape (in 1987), has also a marvelous performance as Alexander 'Sasha' Pechersky, a Russian POW. The gorgeous Joanna Pacula plays Luka, a very brave woman. The explanation of Leon to a new prisoner, why they should dance, play, laugh and make love after the execution of their families, is very touching and respectful. It is indeed an amazing lesson of survival. I have to confess that I am tired of corny movies like `The Pianist', which only shows disgrace and misery of some Jewish persons in the Second World War. We, viewers, are aware of the massacre of Jews in the WWII, but I note that this type of movie is becoming more brutal and explicit. Is it because the world society in 2004 can support watching such brutalities? Is it an adaptation of a historic fact to the violence of the present days? But `Escape From Sobibor' portraits Jews not only as passive victims going (or staying) in the slaughterhouse like a lambs, but also as a very brave people, fighting for survival. It does not mean that the brutality and sadism of certain SS officers is not shown, like the killing of the mother and her baby, or the shot of twenty-six defenseless prisoners, or the use of the whip by some German. But again, it is not explicitly shown as in some movies, with blood, pieces of brain etc., with the only intention of shocking the viewer more than necessary. All the cast has an outstanding performance. The direction is stunning: the scenes of the escape are very real. For example, when the desperate prisoners climbs the wire while escaping is very impressive. Just for reference, another excellent movie about this theme is Jon Avnet's `Uprising'. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil) `Fuga de Sobibor, O Campo do Inferno' (`Escape From Sobibor, the Hell Camp')

I first got this out on video many years back. Being interested in the holocaust from a young age,and having traveled through Poland in the early eighties I got this out of interest.Amazing to think it was done for television and not cinema. I,was on the edge of my seat all the way through,could hardly breath all through the film,did not take my eyes off the screen.The ending is both shattering and uplifting.Even more so knowing the outcome of some of the lives. And how simply fitting a denouement on the end credits the result of the police investigation, give that policeman a medal. On the whole the acting is exceptional, and by that I mean one forgets the actor and sees only the person as real. In fact it has that real life documentary feel to the story. Most satisfying to have seen it before Rutger got semi-famous.

This excellent TV movie deals with extermination center Sobibór and the subsequent escape led by great actors as Alan Arkin and Rutger Hauer . We see horrors , murders , massacres against the prisoners . Thus , when the incoming transports , mostly Jews , SS soldiers made instant decisions , those who were fit to labors were sent into the camp , others including the children , were dispatched immediately to the gas chambers where approximately one-quarter million Jews were executed . The movie gets a breathtaking and exciting getaway with a sensitive score by George Delerue . The film was well realized by Jack Gold developing compellingly the historical recreation of the escape from the Nazi Death Camp Sobibor .

The picture is based on real events , these are the followings : Sobibór , Chelmno , Belzec and Treblinka were four large death camps in the Lublin district of Poland transformed into extermination centers to implement the policy of genocide thought at the Wannsee Conference . Sobibór was an extermination camp of killing center of Jews including children and located near the Bug River on the border of the German occupied eastern territories . Some 35.000 Dutch Jews , originally assigned to Auschwitz were sent to Sobibór . All four camps were under the command of SS Odilo Globocnick . There was some minor industrial activity linked to the war effort but the main work was the execution of inmates . Victims were brought to the camp in unventilated transports , and all but a handful were gassed after arrival , the gas chambers could accommodate hundred prisoners at one time , most of their corpses were burned in open pits . On October 14, 1943 about 150 inmates broke out in a desperate riot . Of approximately 600 prisoners who attempted escaped in October 1943 , around 300 succeeded . However, nearly all were ultimately recaptured ; only about 60 people survived . Sobibor along with Treblinka and Belzec , was evacuated in the fall of 1943.