Out of the Ashes

the actress playing the role of Dr Gisela Pearl should be nominated for her performance. the film showed the courage of the human spirit in the face of hate and tragedy. after looking at the film, I was humbled by the courage of this woman who lost all her family but decide in spite of what happened to her to survive and help other fellow humans. she also had to go through the pain of defending herself after being accused of collaborating with the Nazi. Anyone in the same position had little choices but to try to remain alive. She did more than that and for that reason she should be honoured for her heroism. I am full of admiration for the Jewish people time and time again when I see films such as this one.

The true story of the Late Doctor Gisella Perl is unforgettable and the stuff of which legends and heroines are made. She was truly a most remarkable human being.

However, in my opinion this made-for-television movie did not do justice to Dr. Perl's true life story. The scenes and sets were cheap and recognizable from other contemporary movies made by the same production company. The script (by Anne Meredith) was over-dramatized, stilted and incomplete, e.g. the horror of Dr Perl having to smother to death many live birth children in order to save the lives of their mothers is not mentioned and was one horror, along with the hundreds of abortions she performed to save lives, that haunted Dr. Perl until her death.

The acting and script were so stilted and so melodramatic that it deterred from the true story and made me question if the story could be true or should be taken seriously. Only because I read Dr. Perl's book and many articles about her life that I knew the story to be true. Some of the actors are guilty of terrible overacting, especially in many scenes revealing details of Dr. Perls's life that really call for, nay demand, understatement that would have been far more effective for the realization of the real Dr. Perl and her family. Beau Bridges was good as the lead immigration officer (his part scripted to make him appear as an interrogator for the Inquisition) and Christine Lahti gave a fair, albeit an over the top, melodramatic performance and was often guilty of just plain overacting. Richard Crenna and Bruce Davison are as wooden as manikins in a window display and their roles in this movie still escape me. All in all the script, sets and acting were inferior and deficient.

This story deserves a better treatment than it received in this television movie because Dr. Gisella Perl was a real heroine, not just a death camp survivor.

I give this movie 3/5 stars, mainly for Dr. Perl's true story, not the acting, script or cinematography.

It is a TV movie based on the memoirs of a gynecologist from Auschwitz. This film is a linear and has two parts. The flashbacks to Auschwitz are nice and powerful, but the film's present-day sequences and the scenes where "Perl" questions his citizenship are contrived and tacky. The film wants to expose the viewer to judgment and position him, but it is not successful in this task and remains on the surface and is limited to sloganing dialogues. In general, the movie has nothing new to say, and reading the book it is adapted from is much more interesting And it is acceptable for broadcast on TV.

This portrayal of Dr. Gisella Perl is the greatest movie about life inside the fences of Auschwitz. As a history major, specified on the Holocaust, I believe the cast and crew of this movie really knew what they were doing. Every time I watch it, tears form in my eyes as Lahti portrays Perl in the scene where she pulls her sleeve up to the U.S. men explaining how she was not a collaborator, how she was a prisoner, and that she had the identification number to prove it. I hope that this movie did Dr. Perl justice and her family see's what a tremendous woman she was. Now every time I do any research project or paper for a history class concerning the Holocaust, Nazi era, or Hitler, I bring up Dr. Perl, and explain how it takes more than courage to save all the lives she saved... it takes love, compassion, and devotion to her fellow inmates and all the persecuted victims. This movie deserves more than one award.. it deserves to be in some kind of Hall of Fame.

Joe Sargent was ruthless with the editing,the fast cuts pulled you right into the story, he made it move at a great pace.

Don Morgan did a brilliant job on lighting - I love it when a DOP is not afraid to have faces drop into shadows. Beautiful texure throughout.

Jeff Ginn did an absolute stellar job on production Design.

The show felt like a feature film.

Christine Lahti should be nominated for her role in this film