The final third of THE GREY ZONE is powerful and heart-wrenching. Unfortunately the scenes that precede it are very talky and shot mostly in darkness. Worse, some of the most powerful scenes --- such as the roll-call with prisoners holding up corpses to make the count come out right --- wound up on the cutting room floor. In the commentary accompanying the deleted scenes, the director states that the deleted scenes were cut because they weren't necessary; viewers already knew the material, such as the deleted scene where the Jewish doctor prepares to perform autopsies on twin girls. True, if you have an audience of Holocaust scholars, or even people who were alive during World War 2, it is unnecessary to explain what types of experiments Mengele was doing. But if the people watching this film are high school students, simply saying the Jewish doctor is "assisting Mengele" and leaving it at that does not begin to convey the horror, or the evil, of what the Jewish doctor is doing. Not everyone nowadays immediately recognizes the name "Mengele" the way they do "Hitler." THE GREY ZONE could have had the same impact as SCHINDLER'S LIST, and sparked debate about whether the Jewish "collaborators" were betraying their people or courageously doing whatever was necessary to survive a little longer and perhaps help a handful survive longer as well. Instead, the film falls short of greatness because the first two-thirds are confusing to audiences who are not already familiar with the material. Those deleted scenes need to be put back --- especially the one that shows a woman hiding gunpowder in a corpse's clothing! In the movie, a woman is tortured and several women are killed because no one will reveal how the women got the gunpowder or where they hid it. The topic is never addressed again. Fortunately, the deleted scenes are on the DVD and will answer many viewers' questions. But it's a shame they couldn't be restored to the film where they belong.Read full review
It is hard to judge such movie, simply because of its topic and source... It is the first attempt to ever visualize and 'document' on a screen the life of humans who witnessed the worst part of the Nazi-hell day-and-night! It is very well delivered, excellent acting and excellent site-setting. It is important for viewers to understand that ALL scenes in this movie are based on REAL EXPREIENCES and REAL TESTIMONIES. This is an incredible document! The dir4ctor did not spare anything from our eyes - many scenes are VERY hard to watch, very realistic, very graphic - I praise him for it.
This movie opens your eyes to the tragic slaughter of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Hitler. It shows how the human spirit will do anything to live. Very sad, informative movie. Excellent, real to life acting...very thought provoking movie.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Very good movie about the holocaust, and those who fought to stay alive, as they challenged, and rose up against their oppressors.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
A very good movie depicting the sad struggles these survivors went through.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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