Four Seasons Lodge

I would just like to thank the filmmakers for capturing these people and their stories on film. It is not so much about triumph of the spirit as it is a hopeful film about enjoying life to the fullest even as we know our days our numbered.

This was a little different than movies about the holocaust. It is about survivors enjoying the later years of their life at a summer bungalow colony in the upstate New York Catskill Mountains. It is a documentary that follows the lives as the members of this bungalow return for another summer season in the mountains. You will laugh and you will cry but you will see a group of survivors telling pieces of their own story of what it was like growing up and what it is like now coming up summer after summer to their special getaway. The movie was well shot and will keep you glued to the screen. This is reality programming in the true sense of the word. At the same time you will get a feel for what it was like for so many of us that spent our summers in the Catskill Mountains bungalow community. You will see the socks man and much more. It does not take long for you to get a feel for exactly why these survivors were able to have such a good time with their own people. It also shows that they have never forgotten and make the viewer remember that we must never ever forget.

A tender look at survivors. They survived the Holocast and the emptiness of a world where all they had was lost. They found each other and they found found the mountains. A beautiful story of pain that never fades and joy that can.t be killed.

This is not a drama but a documentary slice of life from the latter years of ordinary people who are celebrating together their survival of one the worst tragedies in history.

What kind of photography did you expect - avant-garde, intended for the Cannes Film Festival? Gimme a break!

The testimonials are incidental to the intent of the film. They are part of it but not the main reason for it.

What kind of scholarly thought are you referring to? This shows a total lack of understanding of the movie. It was NOT made as a contribution to the already sizable archive of survivors' testimonials. It wanted to present a an event in the lives of these people that had been re-enacted for a few decades.

Why does a documentary filmmaker choose any individual or group of people? Because he/she believes they will make for an interesting story that hasn't been told before or wants to make it in his/her own way. Who should he have chosen in your view? There are hardly any survivors left.

The movie wasn't intended to be a revelation of any kind. Everything you said is mean-spirited and makes one wonder whether you had ulterior motives in panning it.

No, this documentary is not a tour de force work of art, but it is not anything that you're claiming it is either. Seems to me you're a frustrated amateur film critic that doesn't even have a good command of English. I truly doubt that you have any Holocaust survivor relatives.

With the countless number of quality documentaries dealing with survivors of the Holocaust,there's always room for another. In this case,it's Andrew Jacob's ever so fine meditation on old age,'Four Seasons Lodge'. The setting is a colony of bungalow's in the Catskill's that has seen better days (the grounds,as well as the bungalows show signs that much repairs are needed,overseen by the grounds keeper,himself in his 80's). The residents of the colony are all survivors of the Nazi occupation of Poland (with one exception,a woman,from Austria). The manager of the community,a survivor who claims he was experimented on by Dr.Josef Mengele,always seems to have his hands full with one thing or another,is worried that the colony is to be sold to the state of New York,for potential re-development. We get to see the daily going's on of the community,hear their stories of survival,and just live for each day in general. First time director Andrew Jacobs,directs from a scenario written in collaboration with Kim Connell. Veteran cinematographer,Albert Mayles ('Grey Gardens','Gimmie Shelter',and far too many other films to mention here)photographs with a flair for the great out of doors (we get to see the seasons via it's various weather changes,from snowy Winter,to pastoral Spring & idyllic Summer & Fall). The film,although sad at times,also is infused with life,from the perspective of those who have seen far too much death in their own lives for their own good. Spoken in heavily accented English,and Polish & Yiddish with English subtitles. Not rated by the MPAA,this film has occasional outbursts of rude language,some mild adult content (mostly in the way of a nightclub comic,mouthing some fairly racy material),and some harrowing testimonies of the ill treatment of Jews during the Holocaust