Fuga de Sobibor

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.

One of the best films best about the Nazi holocaust,and the atrocities committed in the concentration camps,ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR is based on a true story of an heroic uprising in one of these camps of death and horror.Some of the scenes depicted are so horrific that they are very hard to watch,but we are left cheering at the escape at the end as a reaction to the brutalities and inhumanity we witness beforehand.

The cast is excellent,with fine actors such as Alan Arkin,Jack Shepherd,Rutger Hauer on-hand,but a special note should be made of Harmut Becker's performance as the evil,sadistic,murdering monster Sgt Wagner.He is completely without any redeeming features whatsoever,and Becker is totally convincing in the part.I wished this character to come to a enormously nasty end,though he didn't get it;the end credits inform us that Wagner was murdered in a fascist South American country in 1978.

British director Jack Gold is a talented director who made a few decent big-screen films,but his best work was left for TV films like THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT,CATHOLICS,and GOODNIGHT MR TOM.This may be his best.

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.

..for this somehow little known WW2 movie.If you liked "The Great Escape" or "Schindler`s List" for ex.,you`ll love this movie.It`s just as realistic and well played as those two.Production is high and the setting is very...yes,realistic.There are several gruesome execution scenes in this movie and it will make you hate the Nazis to the bone.What sick people!! I almost covered my eyes several times,but a movie like this is very important information of what happened in the death camps. Arkin,Hauer and Joanne Pacula are all great in this terrific WW2 escape movie.If this movie had been an theatrical release and not a TV miniseries,it would have won several Oscars,no doubt.Watch it!(if you can find it).

Rating 9/10