The Devil's Arithmetic

Taking place in modern-day times and in 1941, THe Devil's Aritmetic is well-presented and clever. However, it does not give you the realistic, heartbreaking effect that Schindler's List did. They should have given the audience a better effect by maybe spending a little more money. Kirsten Dinst "travels" back in time to a concentration camp and sees what the Jews went through. There she learns the story of some ancestors of her Jewish family. With a satisfying cast of Mimi Rogers, Kirsten Dunst, and many others, The Devil's Arithmetic is all in all not that bad.

I have yet to read the book, but I can say that this movie is wonderful. This modern day teenager is taken back into the past to the time of the Holocaust, taken to a Nazi death camp, and experiences what really happened. I dont think many of us truly realized what it meant to be a Jew back then. Jews were treated as 'pets' in those camps, being branded, 'owned', and forced to work, which basically makes them slaves. I knew about the Holocaust before this movie, and I knew it was so terrible, but the reality of it never really hit me until this movie. But now I think I understand so much more. And I'm only 13. It shows the Jews when they first get to the camp, when they are forced to take off their clothes, put on other clothes which include a special coat with the Star or David on it, have their hair cut off, and get branded with a number on their arm for identification. And then we see how they lived, what they feared, and worst of all, how they died. I'd have to say the ending is what really hit me the most. I wont tell you what happened at the ending, but I will say, if you watch this movie with all your concentration and heart, you will feel a feeling you've probably never experienced, because you've probably never felt the real pain of torture and horror. And that it what this movie expresses.

The point of this film was not as much to be "great art" as it was to educate people about the Holocaust. In that sense, I think that many posters here are unfairly blasting it, holding it up to some high artistic standard. Believe it or not, there are many in this world, especially younger people, who have not clue one about the atrocities committed against the Jewish people. This film would be an excellent introduction (along with other films such as Diary of Anne Frank) for young people into this very real and recent historical nightmare. To read comments here about how bad the German accents were and how the Germans deserve better than this, lead me to suspect the sincerity of those posting them.

An unusual take on the story of the Holocaust though rather pointless.Same as the title-what is the Devils arithmetic? The film will teach you nothing about the Holocaust. As a time travel story it works to an extent in that it concludes by bringing the girl back to her own time as if its all been a dream. Obviously its full of artistic license-the Germans all speak English and it roughly follows what we already know about the ghettoes which were to lead to the camps. I don't think anyone could be unaware of what happened in Germany in the 40s but comparing this to the various documentaries on individual POW camps or classic movies like Schindlers List and its hardly in the same class. As a time travel movie its like Back to the Future or Peggy Sue got married without the music.

Although I have not had the opportunity to read the novel, I felt that this film, despite its low-budget status, is well done, engaging and unequivocally moving.

The surprising highlight of the film is the portrayal of Hannah and Rivkah by Kirsten Dunst and Brittany Murphy. Dunst and Murphy bring an inner-strength to the protagonists leaving the viewer speechless as she/he inexorably contemplates the value of life, friendship and courage in the face of evil and physical/spiritual death.